LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. | 

Shelf . | 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ^ 



AUSTIN 



ON 



THE ATTRIBUTES. 



ARGUMENTS 

DRAWN FROM 

THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD, 

IN SUPPORT OF THE DOCTRINE 

OF 

UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

/ 

By JOHN MATHER AUSTIN, 

AUTHOR OF A " VOICE TO YOUTH," " VOICE TO THE MARRIED," " CATECHISM ON 
THE PARABLES," ETC. 

" Come now and let us reason together." — Isa. 



BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY A. TOMPKINS. 
1844. 

6^7 




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, 
By ABEL TOMPKINS, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



THIS VOLUME 

IS 

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

TO 

REV. HOSEA BALLOU, 

OF BOSTON, MASS., 

AS A TOKEN OF THE HIGH ESTEEM OF THE AUTHOR, FOR ONE 
WHO HAS FOR HALF A CENTURY 

ABLY AND SUCCESSFULLY ADVOCATED 

THE DOCTRINE OF 

A WORLD'S SALVATION. 



PREFACE. 



The author would state distinctly at the outset, that in 
the following- Arguments, he appeals directly to the reason 
of the reader. If it could possibly be deemed necessary to 
justify this course, the authority and example for adopting 
it, are found in the Volume of Inspiration. In the require- 
ment of the Most High, " Come, now, and let us reason 
together " — in the inquiry of the Saviour, " Why even 
of yourselves judge ye not what is right ? " — in the decla- 
ration of St. Paul, " I speak as to wise men : judge ye what 
I say " — an abundant authority is found for appealing to 
man's reason in regard to religious subjects. It would be 
difficult to determine for what purpose the faculty of rea- 
son was bestowed by the Creator, if not for its exercise — 
especially on a subject so purely speculative and spiritual 
as religion. Indeed, the Bible is a revelation to man's 
reason — its doctrines, its requirements, its injunctions and 
exhortations, are all based upon reason, and addressed to 
reason. Take away this faculty, or shut out its light from 
the human mind, and the Scriptures would be enshrouded 
in darkness, and their influence and usefulness destroyed. 
It is true the legitimate exercise of reason is exceedingly 
dangerous to all doctrines embodying error, as light is 
dangerous to everything that requires darkness to conceal 
its deformities. But surely it will not be contended that 
this is a sound argument for the abandonment of this val- 
uable faculty. God's truth has nothing to apprehend 
from reason. It is itself the embodyment of pure reason. 



Vlll 



PREFACE. 



Hence the more faithfully and closely it is weighed in the 
scales of reason, the more apparent become its consisten- 
cies and beauties. It is exceedingly important, however, 
that the reader should ever be careful to distinguish be- 
tween that which is above the comprehension of man's rea- 
son, and that which is in opposition to reason. By con- 
founding these extremes together, great disparagement 
has been cast upon reason, and much injury done to truth. 
As an illustration — to declare that the Universe has 
bounds, would be directly to contradict reason. To assert 
that the voids of space are without bound or limit, would 
be to utter that which perfectly agrees with reason, but 
which, at the same time, surpasses the comprehension of 
reason. Would it be consistent to confound this contra- 
diction, and this want of comprehension together, and in- 
sist that reason is not to be trusted in either case ? So, 
also, if it were asserted that a God of infinite Goodness vol- 
untarily and deliberately put into operation causes for the 
production of infinite evil, it would be making a proposi- 
tion in self-evident contradiction to reason. On the other 
hand, the declaration that a God of infinite Goodness must 
necessarily design all his plans and movements to eventu- 
ate in boundless and eternal good alone, harmonizes per- 
fectly with the decisions of reason — but the times and sea- 
sons, and all the ways and means, which Divine Wisdom 
adopts to accomplish these plans, are beyond the compre- 
hension of man's present reason. But shall we therefore 
confound that which opposes, with that which agrees with, 
but outreackes reason, and conclude it would be as consist- 
ent to believe the former as the latter ? Equally consist- 
ent would it be to reject those plain dictates of reason 
which declare the existence of an intelligent, overruling 
Creator, because the origin and mode of his being cannot 
be comprehended ! Man ought and must follow his rea- 
son, as his guiding star ; although he is unavoidably com- 
pelled, in some instances, to believe that which reason 



PREFACE. 



IX 



declares must be, even when lie cannot comprehend koto 
it can be ! 

It has been the object of the author, in these Argu- 
ments, to confine himself to the consideration of funda- 
mental points in theology, believing that, when the mind 
has clear and consistent conceptions of first principles of 
religion, and comprehends their bearings and deductions, 
there is little danger of becoming involved in error on 
more general points. In prosecuting this purpose, he did 
not seek so much for originality of argument, as for plain- 
ness and directness — it being his wish to place his thoughts 
in a form so distinct, and, if possible, so self-evident, as to 
carry conviction, not only to the intelligent and candid, 
but to the minds of the most faithless and bigoted. The 
reader who is conversant with the arguments usually 
brought in support of the doctrine of Universal Salvation, 
while it is hoped he will discover some suggestions of a 
new and interesting description, will undoubtedly find 
many positions with which he is perfectly familiar. But 
it should be borne in mind that there are thousands in our 
country, to whom almost every argument in these pages 
will be new ; and to such minds they will possess all the 
novelty and power of originality. It was in especial 
view to the benefit of this class, who are strangers to the 
doctrine of a world's salvation, and the arguments upon 
which it is based, that this volume has been prepared. It 
has been thought that, by bringing together in one con- 
nected series, all the principal evidences, embracing 
" things both new and old," drawn from the attributes of 
God, in support of this doctrine, it could not fail of throw- 
ing light and conviction into many minds, hitherto involved 
in darkness and error. And the author flatters himself 
that few believers in a limited salvation can read these 
pages with candor and with suitable reflection, without at 
least having some decided inroads made upon their former 
views of the extent of God's saving grace — while it is his 



X 



PREFACE. 



earnest prayer that the volume may be instrumental in 
opening the eyes of many to the consistency and glory of 
the gospel of Universal Redemption. 

It was deemed desirable that each chapter should pos- 
sess within itself a complete Argument in favor of " the 
restitution of all things." In consequence of aiming at 
this, the reader will very probably find some repetition in 
sentiment and phraseology, in different portions of the 
volume — for which his forbearance is craved. All the 
objections usually urged against the Salvation of the 
World, which are attempted to be drawn from reason, the 
author has endeavored to take up and examine frankly 
and candidly, in the course of the series. How far he 
has succeeded in showing their want of consistency and 
strength, is a point which the reader must determine. 
For an answer to those objections against this doctrine, 
which are predicated on the Scriptures, the reader is 
referred to numerous other works already extant. 

With these preliminary observations, this volume is 
submitted to the attention of the public. Whatever may 
be its imperfections, it has been written with an ardent 
desire that it may perform a mission of Good, and lead 
many minds into those views of God, his perfections, 
government and purposes, which will tend to enlighten 
the understanding, purify and enlarge the affections, and 
fill the soul with that joy which is " unspeakable and full 
of glory." That God will bless it with these desirable 
fruits, is the sincere prayer of 

THE AUTHOR. 

May, 1844. 



CONTENTS. 



ARGUMENT I. 

The Goodness of God. 

A right understanding of the attributes — Importance of the attribute 
of goodness — Goodness ascribed to God in the Scriptures — God's 
goodness manifested in nature — Goodness a moral attribute — 
Goodness the originator of God's works — Goodness a sure foun- 
dation for faith — Objections considered — Goodness opposed to 
temporary as well as endless suffering — Objection abandoned — 
Distinction between temporary and endless suffering — Hu- 
man affairs in a ruinous condition — Objection absurd in terms — 
Objection deficient in its premises — Suppose the objection well 
founded — Objection baseless — The argument not invalidated. 17 

ARGUMENT II. 

The Wisdom of God. 

Wisdom a fundamental attribute of Deity — The attributes infinitely 
active — Wisdom displayed in the works of creation — God's wis- 
dom infinitely comprehensive — Wisdom never acts without a 
design — God's design in the creation of man — God's nature not 
evil — Corroborations of Scripture — Man created for a happy des- 
tiny — The original plan comprehensive and perfect — Workings 
of Providence mysterious, but sure — God's designs ultimately 
accomplished — Man's present sinfulness not insurmountable — 
What necessity for a Saviour? — God works by agents — The 
argument rested 39 

ARGUMENT III. 

The Power of God. 

Effect of losing sight of the power of God — God's power co-exten- 
sive with his wisdom — Practical denial of the attributes — The 
Scriptures assert God's power — All created things attest the 



xii 



CONTENTS. 



power of God — The power of God applied to his plans — Univer- 
sal Salvation accords with the purest desires of the purest hearts 
— An objection anticipated — Man's freedom — The penalty of end- 
less punishment not attached to God's law — Prevailing views 
of man's freedom inconsistent — Man's agency frustrating the 
plans of God — Common view of agency violates the Scriptures 
— The Saviour's inquiry applied to the subject — The effect of 
man's agency foreseen by God — God omnipotent in moral power 
as well as in physical — Evidence of God's moral power from the 
Scriptures — Combination of the three fundamental attributes — 
The argument irresistible 62 

ARGUMENT IV. 

The Justice of God. 

Importance of the attribute of Justice — God just, as well as good — 
Abhorrent views of justice — The office of justice — The more 
prevalent view of justice — The choice of endless bliss or wo — No 
such choice given to man — Sin not an infinite evil — Destroys 
degrees in guilt — Consequences of allowing sin to be infinite — 
Justice not satisfied with an innocent victim — Effect of allowing 
common view of the atonement — Justice not retaliation or re- 
venge — The nature of justice — The office of justice remedial — 
"What measures will justice pursue — God's attributes must all be 
satisfied — The whole field of justice considered — The claims of 
infinite justice — Reasons for man's subjection to vanity — The 
soul progressive — This world introductory and preparatory to 
another — Justice one of the main pillars of Universal Salvation — 
The position confirmed by Scripture. .... 94 

ARGUMENT V. 

The Mercy of God. 

Mercy the loveliest of the attributes — Mercy a favorite theme with 
Scripture writers — Mercy offers no terms — God's mercy un- 
changeable and eternal — Mercy not opposed to justice — Singular 
attempt to reconcile justice and mercy — Endless punishment not 
the demand of justice — Distinction between justice and mercy — 
Illustration of this distinction— Mercy saves not from punishment 
—Pardon from punishment— No pardon necessary in a perfect 



CONTENTS. 



xiii 



government — Justice demands the cessation of punishment — 
The legitimate field for mercy — God's mercy a sure foundation 
for hope — Corroborated by the Scriptures — Universality of God's 
mercy — God delights in mercy — God's moral qualities to be judg- 
ed by man's — God's delight in mercy understood by the good man 
— Mercy's desires satisfied — God will not deprive himself of that 
which gives delight — Value of the human soul — God's estimation 
of the worth of the soul — Glorious conclusions from the mercy of 
God ' 135 

ARGUMENT VI. 
The Will of God. 

The will of God a combination of his attributes — Man's will com- 
pared with the will of God — The attributes consent to man's cre- 
ation — Wisdom decides its practicability — Justice weighs the 
moral character of the transaction — The assent of mercy — Power 
able to execute — The moral character of God's will — The Crea- 
tor not an evil being — Petition of an angel of darkness — Petition 
of an angel of light — Answer to these petitions — Scripture testi- 
mony in regard to God's will — Descriptions of the will of God- by 
the Apostles — Acknowledged that it is God's will to save all — 
Objections — The objection suicidal — God's veracity pledged as 
strongly to save all as a part — The will of God never frustrated 
— A place must be allowed for the exercise of man's freedom — 
God's will and man's actions — Scripture proof of the accomplish- 
ment of God's will — Still more explicit declarations — Summing 
up of Scripture testimony — The accomplishment of God's will 
not confined to this life — The operations of Providence not re- 
stricted to time or place 175 

Conclusion 216 



2 



ARGUMENTS 

FKOM THE 

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 



ARGUMENT I. 

THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 

" The just Creator condescends to write, 
In beams of inextinguishable light, 
His names of Wisdom, Goodness, Power and Love, 
On all that blooms below, or shines above ; 
To catch the wandering notice of mankind, 
And teach the world, if not perversely blind, 
His gracious Attributes, and prove the share 
His offspring hold in his paternal care." 

A RIGHT UNDERSTANDING OF THE ATTRIBUTES. 

Next in importance to the acknowledgment of 
the existence of a Supreme Being, is a right under- 
standing and appreciation of his attributes. To err 
in . our conceptions of the nature, the office, or the 
influence of the divine attributes, is to commit a 
mistake on a fundamental point, and one which will 
necessarily affect the whole circle of our religious 
views, and give a false coloring to the entire econ- 
omy of the Most High. The degree of confidence 
and peace which religion imparts, depends mainly, 
if not wholly, upon the characteristics which we sup- 
pose Deity to possess. To attribute to him any of the 



IS 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



imperfections of man, or to believe that his attributes, 
although perfect in themselves, operate imperfectly 
in the movements of Providence, or will fail in pro- 
ducing their legitimate fruits, in the ultimate results 
of creation, is to dim with dark clouds the light 
which shines from the great central truth of the 
Divine Existence, change to painful anxiety the hap- 
piness with which it would otherwise fill the soul, 
and make the theism of the Christian little better 
than the polytheism of the Pagan. Hence the im- 
portance of making the attributes of God the fre- 
quent subject of deep, mature reflection and patient 
study. Not only is it necessary to examine the 
nature and office of each separate attribute, but the 
relation which each bears to all, and all to each, 
and the influence and results of their combined 
action in the councils of the Most High. Whoever 
is right here, cannot fail, in the exercise of the plain 
common sense with which he is endowed, to be right 
in all the essential points of religious faith, nor fail 
to arrive at conclusions as reasonable and consistent 
as they are elevating and joyful. 

IMPORTANCE OF THE ATTRIBUTE OF GOODNESS. 

In the bright circle of Jehovah's perfections, it 
cannot be determined, that any one attribute is more 
important than another. All are infinitely impor- 
tant, infinitely essential. They exist in harmony 
together, and in an all-perfect harmony they act — 
each drawing vitality, power, and boundless effi- 
ciency from the sympathetic cooperation of all. 
But, if it were possible that one of the attributes 



GOODNESS OF GOD. 



19 



of God could be more important than another, 
the supremacy would unquestionably be given to 
Goodness! Infinitely better would it be for the 
universe, if the Creator were deficient in Wisdom 
and Power, and perfect in Goodness, than deficient 
in Goodness and perfect in Wisdom and Power. In 
the former case, his designs would be pure and mer- 
ciful, though he might fail of accomplishing them. 
In the latter, his ability to execute would be perfect ; 
but it would only be a perfect execution of evil pur- 
poses. If a being of the former character could do 
anything, it would be something good. If one of 
the latter character could do everything] it would 
be everything evil ! A belief in a God of the one 
description would inspire love for his Goodness, 
mingled with regret for his inability ; a belief in the 
other would fill the soul alone with constant alarm 
and frightful forebodings. And in proportion as 
an individual's religious faith approaches either of 
these extremes, in regard to God's character, to the 
same degree will he experience the emotions above 
described. 

GOODNESS ASCRIBED TO GOD IN THE SCRIPTURES. 

That Goodness is one of the attributes of God, is 
a truth revealed and established by the repeated 
declarations of Holy Writ : — " Thou, Lord, art 
good." 1 ''There is none good but one, that is 
God." 2 The Scriptures not only thus distinctly 
assert that God is a being possessing Goodness, but 



i Psalms bcxxvi. 5. 
2* 



2 Matt. xix. 17. 



20 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



they are particular to mention many very valuable 
traits which characterize that goodness. They 
declare it to be great: "And delighted themselves 
in thy great goodness." 1 They describe it as being 
abundant: "And the Lord passed by before him, 
and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful 
and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in good- 
ness and truth." 2 Impartial: "The Lord is good 
unto alV 3 Rich : " Despisest thou the riches of his 
goodness?" 4 Active: "Thou art good, and doest 
good." 5 It is a parental goodness : " What man is 
there of you, whom, if his son ask bread, will he 
give him a stone ? or, if he ask a fish, will he give 
him a serpent? If ye, then, being evil, know 
how to give good gifts to your children, how much 
more shall your Father which is in heaven, give 
good things to them that ask him ? " 6 It is a good- 
ness that extends not only to the pure and righteous, 
but to the sinful, even while in their sins : " But 
God. who is rich in mercy, for his great love where- 
with he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, 
hath quickened us together with Christ." 7 Its 
display produces a renovating influence on the 
hearts of the wicked : " The goodness of God lead- 
eth thee to repentance." 8 It reaches to enemies : 
" Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping 
for nothing again ; and your reward shall be great, 
and ye shall be the children of the Highest ; for he 
is kind unto the unthankful and evil." 9 Finally, 



» Neh. ix. 25. 
4 Roin. ii. 4. 
' Eph. ii. 4, 5. 



2 Ex. xxxiv. 6. 
s Ps. cxix. 68. 
8 Rom. ii. 4. 



3 Ps. cxlv. 9. 
6 Matt. vii. 9-11. 
9 Luke vi. 35. 



GOODNESS OF GOD. 



21 



his Goodness is constant and unending : " The 
goodness of God endureth continually." 1 

god's goodness manifested in nature. 

The Author of the book of inspiration has written 
also a wider book, in the works of nature, which all 
are capable of reading and understanding. 

" Nature is but a name for an effect, 
Whose cause is God." 

These two volumes must harmonize in their testi- 
mony of the attributes of Deity, or their declara- 
tions are worthy of no consideration. The voice 
of inspiration emphatically declares that Goodness 
is one of the characteristics of the divine nature. 
Does the voice which speaks in nature's works, re- 
spond to and corroborate this declaration ; and is the 
truth and the reality of the Goodness of the Father 
of spirits, thus made evident to our senses 1 There 
can be no question on this point. Upon everything 
that has come from the Creator's hand, the impress 
of Goodness is enstamped. More visible to our im- 
perfect senses in some of his works than in others, 
yet, in all, clearly traceable to the discerning and 
reflecting mind. In the warm and vivifying light 
of the sun, in the moon and stars, which 

" As refulgent lamps of night, 
O'er heaven's clear azure shed their sacred light " — 

in the falling rains and sweetly distilling dews, in 



1 Psalms Hi. 1. 



22 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



the profuse fruitfulness of the earth, in the changing 
of the seasons, and the mutations of day and night, 
in every ray of light, in every particle of matter — 
in each and all — the pure and impartial Goodness 
of God is manifested in unequivocal distinctness. 
It is not saying too much, to exclaim, in the accom- 
modated language of an ancient poet, — 

" Goodness is the air ; 
Goodness is the earth ; 
Goodness is the heaven ; 
All is Goodness ! " 

In the laws of nature, in the properties of matter, 
in the operations of the elements, everything is 
evidently designed for good. Each discovery and 
application of nature's powers in the mechanic arts; 
every new property, quality, or capability, which 
science is constantly bringing to light from the great 
arcana of nature, demonstrates the same important 
truth, that to produce good, is the object of all. In 
God's vast works there has been, there can be, 
nothing discovered, which was evidently designed 
to produce Evil. The most poisonous plants and 
minerals have an office of good to fulfil. The rush- 
ing wind, the furious tornado, the vivid lightning, 
the loud crashing thunderbolt, so full of dismay to 
timid man, are pregnant with Goodness, and lavish 
blessings upon a world which would perish without 
them. All the works and operations of nature claim 
our wonder and admiration ! 

" Mysterious round ! what skill, what force divine, 
Deep felt in these appear ! a simple train, 
Yet so delightful mix'd, with such kind art, 



GOODNESS OF GOD. 



23 



Such beauty and beneficence combin'd ; 
Shade, unperceived, so softening into shade j 
And all so forming an harmonious whole, 
That, as they still succeed, they ravish still." 

It is, then, a truth asserted by revelation, corrob- 
orated by nature, and made certain by every faculty 
of the mind and every sense of the body, — a truth 
universally acknowledged and assented to by be- 
lievers in the divine existence, that Goodness is one 
of the fundamental attributes of the Deity. He is 
infinitely, impartially, immutably, and everlastingly 
good, — "good unto all." He is a vast fountain of 
good, "running over in rivers of communicated 
joys." 

" Enough to know 

That thou art Lord ! Thy Universal Love 
Pervades creation ; on each living form 
Showers down its proper happiness." 

The existence of this attribute being thus firmly 
established, it should be allowed its appropriate 
place, office, and influence in the divine councils. 
It affords an immovable and perfect foundation, 
upon which all reflections and views of the char- 
acter of God, and his purposes, must rest, in order 
to be consistent and true. 

GOODNESS A MORAL ATTRIBUTE. 

It should be borne in mind, that the Goodness of 
the Most High is an infinite moral attribute, and 
hence, must necessarily exert an infinite moral in- 
fluence in the councils of heaven. From its very 
nature, it is utterly impossible that it should ever 



24 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



assent, in any conceivable case or contingency, to 
the permanent existence of its opposite, evil ! or that 
it should assent to any evil, except of that tempo- 
rary character which infinite Wisdom can so over- 
rule as that it shall eventuate in the production or 
promotion of permanent good to all who are, for a 
season, subject to its pains. Hence, to ascribe evil 
to God ; to believe him to be in the remotest degree, 
possessed of purposes of evil towards a creature he 
has formed ; to suppose, in the plans or objects of 
creation, the Deity designed, allowed, or foresaw, that 
irremediable evil, even to one sentient being, would 
be the result of that creation ; is to start with a 
fundamental error, which will bring into a distortion 
with its own hideous features, every other religious 
sentiment held in connection with it. That it is 
an error is self-evident. It is based on the supposi- 
tion that God's goodness is not infinite, that it does 
not exert an infinite influence in the divine councils, 
or that infinite Goodness violates its own inherent 
nature, and prompts to infinite Evil, or consents 
without any possible motive, to that which is a vio- 
lation of its every dictate; and that God can cherish 
two perfectly opposite principles — good and evil; 
all of which are moral impossibilities ! 

GOODNESS THE ORIGINATOR OF GOD'S WORKS. 

Goodness, being the distinguishing characteristic, 
the great moral attribute of Jehovah, it must neces- 
sarily be the voluntary originator, or prompter, of all 
his designs and actions. I say the voluntary origi- 
nator, for there manifestly cannot be any necessity 



GOODNESS OF GOD. 



25 



above God, to urge him to action. Every impulse 
must originate in, and of himself, and must pro- 
ceed from the promptings of this moral attribute of 
his nature. Whatever, therefore, the Creator does, 
or designs to do, it is certain he is influenced by the 
promptings of pure Goodness ; and it is equally cer- 
tain that he engages in no work except he first be 
moved to it by the inherent impulse of his bound- 
less and impartial Goodness. As it is an impossi- 
bility that any moral principle can prompt to that 
which is in opposition to its own nature, infinite 
Goodness could never have moved God to any work, 
or consented that any work in creation should com- 
mence, which would or could result in endless evil, 
or any work which could have such evil for its end, 
or which would produce it directly or indirectly, 
either as its ultimate object, or as an incidental 
effect, flowing immediately or remotely from it, even 
though not included in its legitimate design ! On 
the contrary, as infinite Goodness prompted Jehovah 
to all his works, whatever being or object has been 
created, must ultimately be in such a condition as 
will perfectly answer the desire and expectation of 
that Goodness which moved its existence. 

GOODNESS A SURE FOUNDATION FOR FAITH. 

Are not these premises and conclusions according 
to the dictates of clear reason and plain common 
sense? On the foundation of these plain truths, 
can we not, with the utmost consistency, rest one of 
the great pillars of a faith in the ultimate salvation 
and happiness of the human race ? The Father of 



26 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



spirits was moved to the creation of the family of 
man by the promptings of a pure and infinite Good- 
ness. He saw from the beginning what would be 
the result of such a creation, what would be the 
final condition of every being formed. Whatever 
that condition will be, it was expressly for it that 
each one was brought into life. Did Goodness 
prompt to the creation of any soul, that it might 
ultimately come into a state of ceaseless evil ? We 
have already seen this to be a moral impossibility, 
inasmuch as Goodness would contradict its own na- 
ture in cherishing such a desire. Neither could this 
attribute urge the Deity to the formation of a being, 
foreseeing, (as he must, if such a result would take 
place,) that by any event, by any train of actions, 
by any ignorance, unbelief, or disobedience, or by 
any fortuitous combination of circumstances pos- 
sible, its existence would terminate in irremediable 
wretchedness. This, as in the other case, would be 
equally a contradiction of the very nature of Good- 
ness. It would evidently be the dictate of Goodness 
not to create at all, unless existence could be con- 
ferred under such circumstances, that it would prove 
a final and everlasting blessing to all upon whom it 
was bestowed. But the human race are in exist- 
ence. Without any agency, volition, or even con- 
sent of their own, they find themselves in being. 
Each one has been created voluntarily by a God of 
infinite Goodness ; each one, therefore, is actually 
the effect, the fruit, of an impulse of infinite Good- 
ness, acting upon Jehovah, and urging him to the 
work, with the ultimate destiny of the creature dis- 



GOODNESS OF GOD. 



27 



tinctly in view ! Is it not, then, the self-evident 
deduction of reason 3 as clear and manifest as sun- 
light, that each human being, thus created, must 
ultimately arrive at such a condition of happiness 
as shall be dictated by infinite Goodness 7 If man's 
reason can deduce a legitimate effect from a well 
established and acknowledged cause, then the con- 
clusion at which we have arrived is worthy the 
reception and confidence of every intelligent mind. 

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 

The great truth presented by the course of rea- 
soning above pursued is so consistent and obvious, 
so worthy of God, so honorable to his perfections 
and his government, so joy-inspiring and consola- 
tory, that none, it is believed, could be found to 
object, were it not that the minds of multitudes are 
early impregnated with views of an opposite char- 
acter — views derived from creeds which were framed 
by men whose conceptions of God's attributes must 
have been of the most imperfect description. A 
consideration of one or two objections to the position 
we occupy, may be profitably attended to. 

GOODNESS OPPOSED TO TEMPORARY, AS WELL AS END- 
LESS, SUFFERING. 

It is urged, that the argument we frame upon the 
influence of God's infinite Goodness is unsound, 
inasmuch as, if this attribute would forbid endless 
suffering, it would also equally forbid temporary 
suffering; but as we know that temporary suffering 
does exist, and as it must be the dictate of infinite 
3 



28 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



Goodness to allow it to exist, therefore, that goodness 
may, with the same propriety, allow a state of end- 
less suffering. 

It will require but little reflection to discover that 
this objection proves too much, and is as destructive 
to the system of those who urge it, as it can be to 
that against which it is brought. All the strength 
the objection possesses is drawn from the assump- 
tion, that whatever is consistent with infinite Good- 
ness in this life, will be consistent with it forever. 
Let us try this principle. Do not good men, righteous, 
pious men, suffer disappointment, misfortune, be- 
reavement, sorrow, and pain in this life? Then it 
is perfectly consistent with infinite Goodness, that 
they should thus suffer here ; and as it is consistent 
with Goodness for them to endure these evils in this 
life, it will be equally consistent with Goodness for 
the same class to experience the same sufferings in 
the next life and forever! The popular theology 
of the day represents the sinner's life as one of pros- 
perity and pleasure, while the life of the righteous 
is one of trials, crosses, and tribulations. Now, if 
it is consistent with infinite Goodness, that the 
wicked should experience enjoyment in this world, 
and the righteous trouble and sorrow, then it will 
be consistent with the same goodness, that the 
wicked shall be happy, and the righteous sorrowful, 
in the world to come, and forever ! 

OBJECTION ABANDONED. 

If to these positions it is replied, that it may be 
consistent with divine Goodness to allow the right- 



GOODNESS OF GOD. 29 

eous to endure suffering in this world, but would 
be manifestly inconsistent with it to allow them to 
suffer forever, then the whole ground of the objec- 
tion is abandoned ; it is then conceded, that a state 
of things may be allowed temporarily, consistent 
with Goodness, which would be infinitely inconsis- 
tent with the same goodness to allow forever. And 
thus the soundness of our position is allowed, that 
the infinite Goodness of God, while permitting tem- 
porary evil in the present state of being, would 
unequivocally forbid everlasting evil. Or if, again, 
it is said the Scriptures expressly declare, that the 
righteous shall be happy in the life to come, not- 
withstanding they endure suffering here, I reply, 
that, with equal distinctness, the Scriptures declare, 
that notwithstanding the human race are here sub- 
jected to sin and evil, yet "the creature [or the 
whole creation] shall be delivered from the bondage 
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children 
of God," 1 and that " all men shall be saved, and 
come unto the knowledge of the truth." 2 

DISTINCTION BETWEEN TEMPORARY AND ENDLESS SUF- 
FERING. 

The objection we are noticing overlooks the infi- 
nite distinction between temporary and endless suf- 
fering. The former is perfectly compatible with 
infinite Goodness ; the latter is directly its opposite, 

1 Rom. viii. 21. The original Greek word, which is here rendered 
creature, is, in verse 22, translated "creation." 

2 1 Tim. ii. 4. 



30 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



and in everlasting violation of its every principle. 
Temporary evil can be made the medium of good, 
as when the physician administers nauseous drugs, 
to restore health, or the parent inflicts chastisement 
on the child, to preserve it from wrong doing. The 
case of Joseph and his brethren is an eminent scrip- 
tural instance, showing that temporary evil is allow- 
able in compatibility with Goodness, and that it 
can be made to produce good. It was a great evil 
to Joseph to be sold into slavery; and it was a 
heinous sin in his brethren thus to trample on 
justice, and violate the bonds of fraternal regard. 
But an infinitely wise Providence so directed affairs 
that this evil was not only temporary, as an evil, 
but became the source of immense benefit to all 
concerned in it, and to the whole kingdom of Egypt. 
Infinite Goodness allowed the evil to be committed 
on Joseph, because it foresaw that good would come 
from it. 1 'Ye thought evil against me; but God 
meant it unto good." 1 Goodness, then, can consent 
to temporary evil as a means, for the sake of the 
benefit which can flow from it. But ceaseless evil 
is not a means, but an end, — a fixed, unalterable 
state. It cannot, therefore, result in good, but is an 
infinite injury, an unmitigated, eternal loss ! It is 
the everlasting antipodes of goodness. No attribute 
of God can possibly be reconciled to its opposite, as 
an end. Justice can never be reconciled to endless 
injustice. Goodness can never be reconciled to ever- 
lasting evil. Goodness may well be reconciled to 



i Genesis 1. 20. 



GOODNESS OF GOD. 



31 



evil of a temporary duration, to terminate in a 
greater good to those who experience it, than could 
otherwise be effected. This would be in perfect 
harmony with its legitimate promptings. But an 
evil that ends not, must necessarily be forever 
barren of all good, and can be only fruitful in un- 
mixed wretchedness. And Goodness can no more 
assent to its existence, than it can change its own 
nature. Hence our position is untouched, and it 
remains evident that infinite Goodness, while it would 
permit man to endure temporary evil as a means 
to greater benefits, forever forbids that a creature of 
God should be brought into an existence which 
would result in his endless suffering ! 

HUMAN AFFAIRS IN A RUINOUS CONDITION. 

Another objection to the argument we build on 
the infinite Goodness of Deity, is, that although 
God desires the welfare of all his creatures, yet 
human affairs are in such a condition, that it is im- 
possible to promote the good of the whole, without 
the suffering of a part; and that in such a condition 
of things, it is the dictate of pure and infinite Good- 
ness, that one portion should be made miserable 
forever in order that the remainder may enter upon 
endless happiness — as the benevolent surgeon, 
with the kindest feelings towards his patient, am- 
putates a diseased limb to secure life and health to 
the whole body. 

The reflecting reader cannot fail to discover sev- 
eral very manifest contradictions in the position 
embraced in this objection. It will come more prop- 
s' 



32 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



erly within the design of another Argument to notice 
the infinite lack of wisdom, foresight, and power 
which it attributes to God, in supposing that, under 
his immediate direction and government, human 
affairs have become involved in such a confused 
and contradictory state, that his Goodness is com- 
pelled to violate the impulses of its own nature, and 
desire the misery of one part of mankind to secure 
the happiness of another. The simple statement of 
the proposition would seem to be abundantly suffi- 
cient to show its unreasonableness to all clear and 
unprejudiced minds. 

OBJECTION ABSURD IN TERMS. 

The objection is a contradiction in terms. It is 
absurd to say the greatest good of the whole, re- 
quires the wretchedness of a part. The first limb 
of the proposition covers the second ; the whole, of 
course, includes all the parts which compose it. 
Hence, it is virtually saying of one class of human 
beings, that their own greatest good demands, and 
is promoted by, their own endless woe ! The great- 
est good of all men is necessarily the greatest good 
of every man. This is the dictate of the first rudi- 
ments of plain reason. Nor does it alter the prop- 
osition in the least, to say that God desires the 
greatest good of the greatest number. The greatest 
number of mankind is the ivhole ; and the good of 
the greatest number is the good of the whole, and 
every individual composing the whole. The objec- 
tion, then, properly stated, is this : that the endless 
good of one part of God's creatures cannot be 



GOODNESS OF GOD. 



33 



secured unless he inflicts endless evil upon another 
portion; and that, in such circumstances, infinite 
Goodness demands that the evil should be inflicted 
for the sake of the good. 

OBJECTION DEFICIENT IN ITS PREMISES. 

This objection is singularly deficient in its prem- 
ises. It assumes that which should be proved. It 
takes for granted the very fact which is the chief 
corner-stone of its strength, and which should first be 
clearly and explicitly established — namely, that the 
endless happiness of one part of mankind cannot be 
secured without the endless wretchedness of the 
remainder. This position we emphatically deny; 
and no proof of its truth has been offered, or can pos- 
sibly be offered. It is true, the surgeon is some- 
times justified in amputating a limb, in order to 
preserve life and give health to the whole body. 
But why is he justified? Simply because he has 
no skill to heal the diseased limb. If he had ample 
power to restore the injured part to health and 
soundness, and thus to preserve the whole body, 
would he then be justified in amputating a limb/? 
Assuredly not. Is the Creator under the necessity 
of cutting off one limb of the great body of man- 
kind, to save the remainder? " Is there no balm in 
Gilead? no physician there?" Has the Father 
of spirits remained passive, and deliberately and 
knowingly allowed a disease to prey upon his chil- 
dren, which he has no skill to remove? Would 
even an imperfect earthly parent manifest such pal- 
pable indifference to the welfare of his offspring? 



34 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



Who then, can, who dare, charge the Parent of the 
world with such wilful, infinite neglect of the good 
of his creatures ? That he should allow man to 
become, for a season, subject to moral disease, to 
result in restoration to spiritual health, is reconcilable 
with his Wisdom and Goodness. And that he has 
at his command infinite resources, by which he is 
abundantly able to heal the most polluted of the 
sons of men, and make them pure and holy, is one 
of the clearest dictates of reason, and is, moreover, 
proved by many declarations of Scripture, and by 
the conversion of a Saul of Tarsus, and multitudes 
of the vilest transgressors in all ages. What Je- 
hovah can do for one sinner, he can do for all sin- 
ners; and what he can do, we ought to honor him 
enough to believe he will do, when it is called for 
by his goodness, his holiness, his love, his compas- 
sion, and every attribute of his divine nature. So 
far from it being a purpose of God's wise provi- 
dence to allow those now polluted by sin to remain 
so forever, it is his express purpose to save sinners 
from their sins : " This is a faithful saying, and 
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came 
into the world to save sinners; of whom I am 
chief." 1 If God, through his Son, is able to save 
the chief of sinners, he must be abundantly able to 
save every other transgressor. It, therefore, is man- 
ifestly erroneous to take the position, that Deity will 
be compelled to bind one part of the human race in 
sin and torment forever, to save the remainder. 



1 1 Tim. i. 15. 



GOODNESS OF GOD. 



35 



That the omniscient and all-perfect God should 
become reduced to such an extreme and awful 
dilemma, violates all just conceptions of his wisdom 
and foresight ; it robs him of all knowledge and 
understanding as applicable to his government of 
the affairs of his creatures, and makes that govern- 
ment as feeble and blind, as lacking in the dictates 
of common prudence and discretion, as imbecile and 
erring, as the government of the most weak and 
ignorant of earthly rulers. It is in vain to refer to 
the present existence of sin and evil in the world, to 
prove that God will be compelled to perpetuate sin 
and evil forever, in order to secure good. For, as 
we have already shown, and as is every day wit- 
nessed, he is able to overrule present evil to good. 
And it requires but slight acquaintance with the 
past history of the world, and but little confidence 
in Jehovah's Wisdom, to believe that he will so 
overrule all evil, as that it shall not have the slight- 
est power to prevent the boundless gratification of 
every possible impulse of his infinite and impartial 
Goodness. 

SUPPOSE THE OBJECTION WELL FOUNDED. 

The premises, the foundation, of the objection be- 
ing entirely baseless, the whole fabric loses its force 
and falls to naught. But suppose we allow it to be 
well founded. Suppose it is assented, that through a 
lack of foresight or wisdom in the Creator, or in any 
other manner, the affairs of the human family had 
become so lamentably confused, so infinitely dis- 
jointed, that one part could not become endlessly 



36 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



happy, unless another part were made endlessly 
miserable. The misery which the sufferers would 
be made to endure, would be to them an infinite 
evil. The whole transaction would then be upon 
the principle of doing evil that good may come. St. 
Paul considered it a slander upon himself and his 
brother apostles, when they were charged with 
preaching that evil might be done to produce good. 
If such an imputation is slanderous when charged 
to imperfect man, what shall we say of it when 
charged to the " God of love?" Is it not in the 
highest degree blasphemous ? 

What description of good can that be, which is pre- 
dicated upon continued evil ? What kind of happi- 
ness is that which is promoted by the existence and 
perpetuity of woe ? What would be the moral and 
spiritual condition of a class of beings, whose felicity 
could be obtained and secured only by beholding 
the ceaseless torments of myriads of fellow-beings, 
among whom are dear relatives and friends ? If a 
king were each day to stretch one of his subjects on 
a rack, to give pleasure to himself and his court, 
how would he be viewed by the world ? Or, if the 
affairs of his kingdom had fallen into such a morbid 
and diseased state, that, much against his will, he 
was compelled to torment one portion of his people 
constantly, in the presence of the remainder, to 
make them yield any sort of obedience, what would 
be thought of the wisdom and prudence he had 
exercised in administering his government? If a 
father should roast one of his children over a slow 
fire, to make the others happy, and to keep them 



GOODNESS OF GOD. 



37 



within the bounds of obedience, what should we 
think of the wisdom and goodness of the father's 
government, and the character of his children? 
Let the reader candidly answer these inquiries, and 
reflect how vastly more manifest is their deformity 
and hideousness when made in respect to the gov- 
ernment and providence of our heavenly Father ! 

OBJECTION BASELESS. 

This whole objection, that Deity has so con- 
ducted the affairs of the human race, or has allowed 
them to take such a direction, as to render it neces- 
sary, in any view of the case, that one portion 
should sink into endless sin and wretchedness, vio- 
lates every attribute of the Godhead, and could 
never have been harbored a moment in a sane mind, 
were it not that men, to maintain preconceived opin- 
ions and favorite creeds, will sometimes violate the 
plainest rules of logic and the simplest dictates of 
reason. If we can put the slightest confidence in 
the deductions of the reasoning faculties, it must be 
perfectly evident, that a God of infinite Goodness, 
whose eye scanned the end from the beginning, if 
he could not have formed the human race under 
any circumstances except such as rendered it neces- 
sary, not that one man, but that the smallest insect 
in existence, should become forever miserable, to 
make the race happy, he would have allowed them 
to remain in the peaceful sleep of nonentity. Cre- 
ating, under such circumstances, would be predi- 
cating the happiness of the world upon the ex- 
istence of an infinite evil, an everlasting wrong, 



38 ARGUMENTS FROM THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 

which is as peremptorily forbidden by even-handed 
justice, as it is in opposition to every impulse of 
Goodness. However great or lasting a good may be, 
it can never rightfully rest, in the providence of a 
perfect God, on an endless evil. 

THE ARGUMENT NOT INVALIDATED. 

The argument, then, for the final salvation of the 
human race, which is to be drawn from the Good- 
ness of God, cannot be affected in the slightest 
degree by the objections we have noticed. Based 
on the admitted premise of infinite Goodness in the 
Deity, it moves on with irresistible power, to a con- 
clusion as joyful as it is reasonable, and establishes 
that conclusion clearly and immovably. God's 
Goodness being the original prompter to the crea- 
tion of the human family, however diversified may 
be the course pursued, however contradictory or 
mysterious to our feeble senses the circumstances 
in which they are involved, yet through such 
changes and vicissitudes, and at such times and 
seasons, as infinite and unerring Wisdom may dic- 
tate, all at last must eventuate in precisely such a 
state of things as that Goodness desired originally, 
and from the beginning saw, would be the final 
result ! 

" All nature is but art, unknown to thee ; 
All chance, direction which thou canst not see : 
All discord, harmony not understood • 
All partial evil, universal good ! " 



ARGUMENT II. 



THE WISDOM OF GOD 

" Wisdom and might and love are thine : 
Prostrate before thy face we fall, 
Confess thine attributes divine, 
And own thee sovereign Lord of all." 

"WISDOM A FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTE OF DEITY. 

Infinite Wisdom is one of the fundamental attri- 
butes of the Deity. A belief in the existence of this 
perfection, is an acknowledged element in every 
form of Christian faith, and is vitally essential to all 
right conceptions of the character and providence of 
God. We are not left to conjecture, as to the pres- 
ence of Wisdom in the divine councils. The Scrip- 
tures are very emphatic in their declarations on this 
point: " Blessed be the name of God forever and 
ever; for wisdom and might are his." 1 " He hath 
made the earth by his power, he hath established 
the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the 
heavens by his discretion." 2 "O Lord, how mani- 
fold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made 
ttiem all." 3 St. Paul denominates God's Wisdom a 
u manifold wisdom," 4 or p, Wisdom of many folds — 

1 Dan. ii. 20 * Jer. x. 12. 3 Ps. civ. 24. 4 Eph. iii. 10. 

4 



40 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



i. e., a diversified, multifarious Wisdom, that reaches 
to every conceivable object and work, whether of 
infinite magnitude or of the most minute propor- 
tions. The same apostle declares that 11 the foolish- 
?iess of God is wiser than men." 1 In this strong 
expression, St. Paul supposes an impossibility, for 
the purpose of magnifying the Wisdom of the Crea- 
tor. If it were possible for foolishness to pertain to 
God, that foolishness would infinitely transcend the 
highest pinnacle of man's wisdom. If such would 
be the foolishness of Jehovah, what must be the per- 
fection of his Wisdom ? By another construction, 
the Apostle's language asserts, that those ways of 
Providence which appear foolish to man, are all 
ordained and directed by unerring Wisdom. 

THE ATTRIBUTES INFINITELY ACTIVE. 

To the believer in the Holy Scriptures, it is enough 
that they ascribe Wisdom to the Most High. This 
alone is sufficient to establish his faith in the exist- 
ence of this perfection. But it is exceedingly inter- 
esting and satisfactory, to note the corroborative 
testimony on this point, which meets the view in 
every direction. The Creator's attributes are all 
infinitely active; they are revealed not only in his 
word, but in his works. Not like man, does the 
Deity jjrofess a virtue or a quality, which he does 
not possess. The universe is a type, an outward 
transcript, a visible embodyment of the perfections 
of his nature — an eternal monument of the truthful - 

1 1 Cor. i. 25. 



WISDOM OF GOD. 



41 



ness of his professions. In nature's works we 
behold the characteristics of nature's God. "For 
the invisible things of him from the creation of the 
world are clearly seen, being understood by the 
things that are made, even his eternal power and 
godhead." 1 In the works of creation there is shad- 
owed forth not only a Goodness which is impartial 
and infinite, but a Wisdom which is in every respect 
coextensive and correspondent. Most beautiful 
mingling of the attributes of that Holy One — 

" Whose Power and Wisdom, Love and Grace, 
Are greater than the round of time, 
And wider than the bounds of space." 

WISDOM DISPLAYED IN THE WORKS OF CREATION. 

To behold the most amazing and glorious dis- 
plays of the attribute of Wisdom, we have but to 
raise our eyes to a contemplation of " the spangled 
heavens." In those sapphire fields, there is written 
an universal language, which can be read and 
understood by all nations. In the formation of the 
heavenly bodies ; in their appearance and their 
movements — world revolving around world, system 
moving within system, with a velocity surpassing 
the utmost stretch of human imagination, and yet 
without the slightest " variableness or the shadow 
of turning" — in the original conception and arrange- 
ment, the execution and continued operation, of 
those laws which gave them birth, and hold them 
in their allotted spheres — we behold a tangible, 

i Rom. i. 20. 



42 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



living, and eternal testimony, which no man can 
gainsay or doubt, of the infinite Intelligence and 
boundless Wisdom of the Being who gave them 
existence, 

" This prospect vast, what is it ? — Weighed aright, 
'Tis nature's system of divinity. 
'T is elder Scripture, writ by God's own hand ; 
Scripture authentic ! uncorrupt by man. 
###### 

Divine Instructor ! thy first volume, this, 

For man's perusal, all in CAPITALS ! 

In moon and stars (heaven's golden alphabet !) 

Emblazed to seize the sight ; who runs may read j 

Who reads, can understand. 'T is unconfmed 

To Christian land, or Jewry ; fairly writ, 

In language universal, to mankind." 

But it is not in the heavens alone that God has 
displayed his Wisdom. It is seen in our own world, 
and all that pertains to it : " The earth is full of thy 
riches." 1 The same Wisdom which formed the pon- 
derous sun, constructed the grain of sand ; the same 
Wisdom which bedecked the heavens with sparkling 
constellations, devotes its energies to rear the fragile 
flower of the valley, to paint its leaves with rainbow 
dyes, and enable it to breathe its odor to the grateful 
breeze ; the Wisdom which created the lofty arch- 
angel " who adores and burns," brought into exer- 
cise the same intelligence in ushering into existence, 
not only man, but the insect which lives and sports 
but for an hour ! Plainly can we see — 

" In the vast and the minute, 

The unambiguous footsteps of the God, 



1 Ps. civ. 24. 



WISDOM OF GOD. 



43 



Who gives its lustre to an insect's wing, 

And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds." 

Let the microscope be placed before the eye — bring 
up to view and to examination, the nations of living 
creatures, and the atoms of matter, which elude the 
vision of the unaided sight, and in all will be dis- 
covered the impress of the same " manifold" wis- 
dom, in adapting each living animalcula, and each 
distinct atom, to its designed station and office, that 
is displayed in the creation of angelic beings and 
the formation of systems of worlds ! The opera- 
tions of God's Wisdom are as perfect in the inferior 
as the superior — in the finite as the infinite — in the 
creature that lives but a day, as in the cherubim 
that is endowed with immortality. 

" To him no high, no low, no great, no small ; 
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all." 

god's wisdom infinitely comprehensive. 

To have a just appreciation of the Wisdom of 
God, the fact must not for a moment be lost sight of, 
that it is infinitely comprehensive in its nature, and 
infinitely perfect in its operations — and that it is an 
infinitely practical Wisdom ; being as capable of exe- 
cuting, as it is of conceiving. An infinite Wisdom 
must possess omnipercipience — the power of foresee- 
ing all events that ever will or can transpire through- 
out eternity — not only those which are of the utmost 
importance, but those which are of the most trivial 
description. An infinite Wisdom must also be en- 
dowed with omniscience— a knowledge of all trans- 
4* 



44 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



actions, both past and to come. No event can 
transpire, no contingency arise, no combination of 
circumstances possibly take place, through any 
instrumentality or agency, whether direct or indi- 
rect, that this Wisdom does not clearly foreknow, 
distinctly understand, and abundantly provide for. 
Unless God's Wisdom is endowed with this foresight 
and foreknowledge, it is not infinite — it is not capa- 
ble of originating and executing those great plans 
of operation which reach through all time to come. 
In this case, the future would be an infinite blank 
to Jehovah ; he would be compelled to act entirely 
on uncertainties and contingencies, and be con- 
stantly exposed to errors and mistakes, which 
would be liable to involve himself and the whole 
universe in a state of utter confusion and wretch- 
edness ! But the Wisdom of the Creator being infi- 
nite, must possess foresight and foreknowledge, and 
hence can be involved in no oversight, and can com- 
mit no mistake in the management of the affairs of 
the world. And any theory which contradicts these 
self-evident truths, must necessarily be erroneous. 

We are bound to believe that Wisdom is the hand- 
maiden of the Creator, and accompanies him in all 
he does. If it were possible to suppose he ever 
exercises different degrees of Wisdom, it is but 
rational to conclude that the more momentous the 
work, and the more important the interest at stake, 
the greater is the amount of Wisdom he brings into 
exercise in regard to it. And inasmuch as the crea- 
tion and final destiny of the countless millions of the 
human race, is by far the most important work in 



WISDOM OF GOD. 



45 



which it is possible to conceive that God could 
engage, we are bound by the dictates of reason, to 
believe that all the infinite energies and resources of 
his Wisdom were brought into active requisition, in 
an enterprise of this magnitude and consequence. 

WISDOM NEVER ACTS WITHOUT A DESIGN. 

Motive or object is the distinguishing characteris- 
tic of intelligent action. A being possessing reason 
never enters into a deliberate and connected series 
of operations, without aiming at the accomplishment 
of a distinct object or end. The nature and charac- 
ter of his actions, depend entirely upon the nature 
and character of the end at which they are aimed. 
And all actions are wise or unwise, as they accom- 
plish, or fail to accomplish, the especial object for 
which they were designed. No action, however 
wise it may seem, in itself considered, does in reality 
manifest wisdom, except in so far as it promotes the 
end it was designed to bring to pass. 

The Creator, possessing as he does infinite intelli- 
gence, cannot be supposed to act, in any case, with- 
out designing to accomplish some specific and pre- 
determined end. Hence, in voluntarily and delib- 
erately ushering the human family into existence, 
the end at which he aimed could not have been 
simply to create such a race, without any farther 
purpose in view, but must have been to create each 
individual for some distinct and clearly-defined con- 
dition — some fixed and certain state — some final 
and immutable destiny, into which, notwithstanding 
all the stages they may enter, or the changes through 



46 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



which they may pass, he designed they should 
eventually come ! To deny this, is to declare that 
God acts without a purpose ! — to deny this, is effect- 
ually to deny, that he possesses Intelligence, Fore- 
sight, or Wisdom, and to destroy those perfections 
which form the foundation of all rational depend- 
ence on Jehovah, or confidence in him. That our 
position on this point is correct, is made evident by 
the emphatic language of the Deity himself: "I am 
God, and there is none like me ; declaring the end 
from the beginnings and from ancient times the 
things that are not yet done." 1 

god's design in the creation of man. 

It being a point settled by reason and Scripture, 
that the Creator formed the human race, designing 
each member for some distinct and certain destiny, 
it becomes an interesting and important inquiry to 
ascertain the nature of that destiny. And here we 
need not be at any loss. A satisfactory solution to 
the inquiry before us is within the reach of every 
intelligent reader. It will be admitted as a correct 
principle of judging, that we can determine the nature 
of the design in any action, or series of actions, only 
by the moral character of the being who forms that 
design. Men do not hesitate to decide that the mo- 
tives of a Washington, in assuming the reins of gov- 
ernment over our Republic, were altogether different, 
in their moral nature, from those which actuated a 
Nero in ascending the imperial throne of Rome, 



1 Isaiah xlvi. 9, 10. 



WISDOM OF GOD. 



47 



because the characters of the two were directly the 
reverse of each other. The former was pure, high- 
minded, patriotic, virtuous and good, while the lat- 
ter was selfish, depraved and cruel. From this 
difference in their moral character, we are satisfied 
there must have been a corresponding difference in 
their motives of action. It is upon the same principle 
that we must judge, if we judge at all, of the moral 
nature of Jehovah's design in creating the world. 

god's nature not evil. 

If God were an evil being — if his nature was cor- 
rupt, cruel and fiendish — if his moral character was 
such as is ascribed to fabled demons, finding his 
chief delight in the torture and misery of sensitive 
creatures — if the Scriptures declared that "God is 
hatred" and that " the Lord is evil unto all, and his 
malicious cruelties are over all his works" — then we 
should be compelled to believe that he formed the 
human race for an evil purpose, and that he delib- 
erately designed, from the commencement, to make 
the whole, or at least a large part, miserable forever. 
This conclusion would be a reasonable and legiti- 
mate deduction from the premises, which none could 
gainsay. But such, by general consent it is admit- 
ted, is not the moral character of our heavenly 
Father. No; " God is Love." The reign of an 
Almighty God, is a reign of Almighty Love ! 

" Love Almighty ! Love Almighty ! (sing, 
Exult, creation !) Love Almighty reigns ! 
That death of death ! that cordial of despair ! 
And loud eternity's triumphant song ! " 



48 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



However believers in the divine existence may 
differ on other points, here there is no question, no 
disagreement. All unite in acknowledging that God 
is infinitely, impartially, and immutably good — that 
there is no mixture, taint, or particle of evil in his 
nature — but that he is boundless in beneficence, 
justice, kindness, compassion and mercy — and that 
these characteristics pervade and compose his whole 
moral character. The correctness of these views 
is put beyond all cavil, by the clear and decided 
language of inspiration, which declares that he "is 
good unto all, and his tender mercies are over all 
his works." Here, then, we all meet and agree. 

Such being the character of the Deity, we are 
compelled, by the demands of reason, to believe that 
his design in ushering each human being into exist- 
ence, was of a corresponding character — to do good 
to them, to bless them, to make them the objects of 
his love and compassion, and to bring them at last, 
as their ultimate and final state, into a condition of 
peace and bliss. To contend that he designed their 
final condition to be of an opposite character — one 
of endless wretchedness — is to confound all distinc- 
tion between the motives of a God of Love, and a 
God of Evil — is to attribute precisely the same 
purposes to both, and to contend that the Supreme 
Father of spirits acis from no different and no 
better motives than the semi-omnipotent devil, in 
which so many formerly believed. Reason, logic, 
common sense, hedge up our way to such a conclu- 
sion. They utterly forbid our harboring it, and 
command, as we would be in subserviency to their 



WISDOM OF GOD. 



49 



dictates, that we return to the deduction already 
affirmed, that in forming the human family, the 
design of " the God of Love," in reference to their 
ultimate condition, was that they should all partici- 
pate in an endless happiness. 

" Beholding in the sacred light 

Of his essential reason all the shapes 
Of swift contingence, all successive ties 
Of action propagated through the sum 
Of possible existence, He at once 
Down the long series of eventful time 
So fixed the dates of being, so disposed 
To every living soul of every kind, 
The field of motion and the hour of rest, 
That all conspired to his supreme design, 
To universal goodV — Akenside. 

CORROBORATIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 

Here, again, the Scriptures come in to support and 
perfect the conclusions of our reason. That the 
works in which the Wisdom of God engages, are 
works not to produce evil, but good, and good espe- 
cially as an ultimate end, is evident from the nature 
of that Wisdom : " The wisdom that is from abpve 
is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be 
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without 
partiality and without hypocrisy." 1 Common sense 
teaches us that a Wisdom which is "pure and peace- 
able," cannot be engaged in originating designs to 
perpetuate impurity and sin forever. Neither can a 
Wisdom which is " full of mercy and good fruits" 
produce a plan, as its fruits, which has for its end 



1 James iii. 17. 



50 ARGUMENTS FROM THE 

and aim, the inflicting of ceaseless cruelties and 
tortures on intelligent and sensitive beings. But the 
Bible affords still clearer views of the particular 
state or condition into which the Creator, in forming 
the human race, designed them to enter. These 
will be seen in the following quotations: "Look 
unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ; 
for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn 
by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in 
righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me 
every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear, 
surely shall say, in the Lord have I righteousness 
and strength. To him shall men come, and all 
that are incensed against him shall be ashamed." 1 
" All nations whom thou hast made shall come and 
worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy 
name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous 
things. Thou art God alone." 2 " The Lord is not 
slack concerning his promises, as some men count 
slackness : but is long-suffering to us- ward, not wil- 
ling that any should perish, but that all should come 
to repentance." 3 "Who will have all men to be 
saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the 
truth." 4 

MAN CREATED FOR A HAPPY DESTINY. 

These scripture testimonies, plain, clear and dis- 
tinct as they are, afford ample insight into the 
design of the Most High, in forming the world. 
However imperfect and sinful the race may be in 

Usa.xlv. 22—24. 2 Ps.lxxxvi. 9, 10. ^2 Pet.iii. 9. 4 lTim.ii.4 



WISDOM OF GOD. 



51 



this existence, yet within the object for which they 
were formed, it will be seen above, there is em- 
braced the design to bring them all into a condi- 
tion of salvation, obedience and worship. Having 
created mankind for this purpose — a purpose which 
is in the most perfect harmony with the acknowl- 
edged character and attributes of the Deity — having 
determined that all the ends of the earth shall look 
to him and be saved, that every knee shall bow in 
obedience to him, and every tongue shall confess 
that in him they have righteousness and strength — 
that all nations shall come and worship before 
him and glorify his name — it was the office and 
work of God's Wisdom to originate a plan of opera- 
tions in the divine councils, which should produce 
this most desirable and glorious result. And as that 
Wisdom is infinite in its capabilities and resources, 
we must believe it to have been fully equal to this 
task — abundantly able to mark out such plans of 
procedure, for the movements of Jehovah's provi- 
dence, as should eventuate in bringing at last all 
the race of man into that perfectly holy and happy 
condition for which God, as we have seen, designed 
them from the beginning. Not only foreseeing, but 
predetermining the final state which his creatures 
should occupy, he must have been enabled by his 
Wisdom to foresee and predetermine each step, 
which was necessary to bring them into that state. 
In this gracious and worthy work, the Almighty is 
the great original Cause, and the final purity and 
bliss of the human family is the glorious Effect. 
And all-seeing Wisdom must have provided, and 
5 



52 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



distinctly seen, every individual link in the long 
and indissoluble chain, which unites the infinitely 
glorious Effect to its infinitely glorious Cause. To 
deny these conclusions, is to deny the existence of 
that foresight or foreknowledge, which is the first 
requisite to infinite Wisdom — it is, in fact, to deny 
that Wisdom is an attribute of Deity. 

THE ORIGINAL PLAN COMPREHENSIVE AND PERFECT. 

The mechanic, in manufacturing a set of machin- 
ery, first draws his plan — he marks down every 
shaft and lever, every crank and pulley— deter- 
mines how the cogs of each wheel shall work with 
those of others — and enters into every possible 
detail and minutia, which is essential to the 
strength, beauty, and perfect operation of his me- 
chanism. In fact, he sees in his mind's eye, the 
machine reared, completed in all respects, and in 
operation, before a blow is struck in the actual exe- 
cution of his plans. Are we to suppose the great 
Architect of the Universe proceeds in his works with 
less of foresight, prudence and wisdom than man? 
The faculties of foresight and calculation, which our 
Maker bestows on his creatures, he must possess 
himself in infinite perfection ; and it is evident that 
he abundantly exercises them in all the works in 
which he engages. That he brought these quali- 
ties into exercise in erecting the stupendous ma- 
chinery of the heavens — in building the vast sys- 
tems which roll in immensity of space — is demon- 
strated to all capacities, by the perfection in which 



WISDOM OF GOD. 



53 



they have moved in their allotted spheres from the 
morning of time, — 

"Forever singing, as they shine, 
The Hand that made us is divine." 

It is not to be supposed the great Workman has 
been any less careful to exercise his foresight and 
calculation, in entering upon the most important 
enterprise of which man can conceive — the creation 
of the machinery of human existence. The plan, 
we must believe, was marked down with infinite 
precision — every line was drawn, every wheel, and 
cog, and pivot, assigned to its appropriate place — 
all obstacles, hindrances, or clogs, that could possi- 
bly interrupt the successful and perfect operation of 
this most invaluable set of mechanism, must have 
been distinctly foreseen and abundantly provided 
for in the original plan — and in the eye of Omnisci- 
ence, the whole work was seen moving and accom- 
plishing its design, with the utmost perfection, even 
before the edict went forth, " Let us make man." 
To human comprehension, it is true, some of the 
wheels of this mechanism of God, may appear to 
operate unfavorably, and even in opposition to that 
condition of universal holiness and happiness, which 
was the especial object to be accomplished. But 
due reflection will lead the candid mind to the con- 
clusion, that the difficulty in the premises exists 
entirely in man's inability to comprehend the opera- 
tion of this infinite mechanism, and to see the rela- 
tion and connection between each individual move- 
ment and the grand operation of the whole, rather 



54 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



than in any actual defect in the plans of divine 
Wisdom. It may appear inexplicable to those un- 
learned in mechanic arts, that two wheels moving 
in directly opposite courses in the same machinery, 
are both equally instrumental in producing the 
same result, in the operations of the machine as a 
whole. And yet such is the fact. Equally inex- 
plicable and contradictory, in our feeble comprehen- 
sion, may appear many of the movements in the 
plans of God to bring his creatures to the high pin- 
nacle of heavenly perfection. It requires, however, 
but a moderate degree of confidence in the resources 
of infinite Wisdom, to believe that however adverse 
many operations in divine Providence may seem, 
whether in that which it actually does, or in that 
which it permits to be done, yet all but tend to roll 
on the great wheels of the original plan, to the glori- 
ous termination aimed at by the universal Father 
of spirits.^ 

WORKINGS OF PROVIDENCE MYSTERIOUS BUT SURE. 

According to all human conceptions, at the time 

* Let it not be supposed that in these remarks, we take ground 
on "the vexed question" of man's moral or free agency, or that 
they have any necessary connection with this agency. Allowing 
that mankind have been endowed with the utmost freedom that the 
most pertinacious advocate for " free agency " contends for, still it 
must be conceded that this freedom was granted by the Creator for 
some specific purpose belonging to his great plans, and having 
direct reference to the final condition into which he designed to 
bring his creatures. Hence, this " agency," let it be great or small, 
is but one of the numberless ?vheels in the machinery of human 
existence, which assists to bring about the final end for which our 
race was formed. 



WISDOM OF GOD. 



55 



the transaction took place, the selling of Joseph into 
bondage by his brethren, was a great evil j and it 
was impossible for the heart-broken father Jacob, to 
reconcile the allowing of this lamentable occurrence, 
either with the Wisdom or Goodness of God. Yet 
the result proved that this very evil, apparently so 
in opposition to the happiness of the patriarch, was 
but one of the steps of divine Providence, to pro- 
mote the welfare of all parties concerned. It was a 
wheel in the great machinery, (to keep up the 
figure,) which apparently turned in a wrong 
direction, but which, in the plans of heavenly Wis- 
dom, turned right to produce the benevolent end 
aimed at. "And Joseph said unto them, * * # * * 
as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God 
meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this 
day, to save much people alive. 1 " This transaction 
is but an epitome of the manner in which God over- 
rules all human events. Although the Almighty 
has given his creatures the ability and the freedom 
of exercising their faculties according to their own 
will, within certain limits, and for which exercise, 
he holds them accountable to him — amenable to his 
rewards or punishments — yet in this, he does not 
deprive himself either of the ability, or the liberty, 
of turning all human actions to the forwarding of 
his own eternal purposes, conceived in boundless 
and impartial Goodness before the world began. 
And that infinite Wisdom is entirely competent to 
this work, there cannot be a question in any consis- 
tent mind. 



» Gen. 1. 19, 20. 

5* 



56 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



god's DESIGNS ULTIMATELY ACCOMPLISHED. 

With these considerations in view, can there be a 
rational doubt that the original designs of God 
respecting the human race, will be ultimately and 
completely accomplished ? Having created human- 
ity that he might bring them all finally into a con- 
dition of perfect holiness and bliss, is it consistent or 
reasonable to believe that a portion, or a single soul, 
will fall short of the attainment of this condition? 
To entertain a question on this point, is but to doubt 
whether the Wisdom of Jehovah is infinite. If he 
created the race of man, with the deliberate purpose 
of bringing them universally to the enjoyment of 
salvation, and any part fail of experiencing this 
blessing, then the Wisdom which drew the plans for 
the accomplishment of this purpose, must have been 
finite and imperfect. And moreover, in this case, 
God must be infinitely disappointed. No rational 
being will deliberately commence a work of impor- 
tance, unless he actually believes he shall be able to 
accomplish it. A failure to complete it must neces- 
sarily bring disappointment. The only choice, 
therefore, which is left, on this whole subject, is to 
believe, either that God's Wisdom is imperfect, that 
his plans have failed, and he has become everlast- 
ingly disappointed, or that the entire human family 
will eventually participate in that state of perfec- 
tion and happiness for which he originally designed 
them. 



WISDOM OF GOD. 



57 



man's present sinfulness not insurmountable. 

It is in vain to throw in here, the objection of 
man's present sinfulness, in opposition to the perfect 
operations of God's plans — it is in vain to insist that 
if all had gone on in accordance with the original 
designs of the Creator, sin would never have existed. 
The whole weight of this objection is based upon 
the assumption that his Wisdom is imperfect, that 
his foresight was beclouded by ignorance, and that 
disappointment is written on his plans ! — or, in other 
words, that at the head of the universe, there is a 
God unwise, short-sighted, erring, and altogether 
incapable of managing the affairs of his creation. 
In whatever mind the objection we are considering 
gains a foothold, its whole tendency is to destroy all 
rational confidence in the Deity, and to fill it with 
corroding doubts and apprehensions ! The simple 
fact that man is here subject to sin, is of itself con- 
clusive evidence that this subjection was not in 
opposition, but in accordance with, the original pur- 
poses of the Creator. The Scriptures plainly sup- 
port this position. " For the creature was made 
subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him 
who hath subjected the same in hope ; because the 
creature itself also shall be delivered from the bond- 
age of corruption into the glorious liberty of the 
children of God." 1 If the Creator made the crea- 
ture subject to vanity or sin, as the apostle declares, 
then, so far from being in opposition, this condition 

1 Rom. viii. 20, 21. 



58 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



of man must have been in agreement with his origi- 
nal holy and benevolent designs. And this is made 
perfectly manifest by an important fact asserted in 
the above passage, that this subjection of man to 
sinfulness, was made in especial connection with 
the gracious purpose of effecting his deliverance 
from this "bondage of corruption into the glorious 
liberty of the children of God." In confirmation 
of the same view of the subject, is the language of 
St. Paul in another portion of his epistle to the Ro- 
mans. " For God hath concluded them all in unbe- 
lief, that he might have mercy upon all. O the 
depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowl- 
edge of God ! How unsearchable are his judg- 
ments, and his ways past finding out." 1 In this 
passage, the apostle maintains that so far from 
being any indication of imperfection in the Wisdom 
of God, it is an evidence of the depth, the riches, 
the perfection of his Wisdom, that he could subject 
his creatures to sin in such a way — under the 
operation of such wise and gracious plans — that 
notwithstanding this subjection, he could still have 
mercy upon them all. And Paul was filled with 
amazement and admiration, at a Wisdom so un- 
searchable, so beyond our comprehension — a Wis- 
dom which, amid man's blindness and unbelief, so 
pursues its bright track, as to bring all humanity 
within the embrace of infinite mercy ! 



» Rom. xi. 32, 33. 



WISDOM OF GOD. 



59 



WHAT NECESSITY FOR A SAVIOUR? 

It may here be inquired by an objector, if the 
plans of divine Wisdom will all be accomplished 
with unfailing certainty, what necessity was there 
of a Saviour? In reply, I would ask, if a plan is 
formed to erect an edifice, what need is there of a 
workman? It is not to be concealed that in the 
view of the popular religionists of the present day, 
the necessity which called for the mission of the 
Redeemer, was produced by a general failure of 
the original purposes and plans of God respecting 
man — a supposition which directly impugns the 
Wisdom and Power of the Most High. It is only 
necessary, however, for a consistent mind to con- 
template, a single moment, the manifest absurdity 
of this idea — its entire incompatibility with every 
conception of Jehovah as a perfect being — to reject 
it as utterly unworthy those who believe in a God 
possessing infinite attributes. 



GOD WORKS BY AGENTS. 

In carrying his all-wise plans into execution, the 
Creator selects means, instruments, or agents ; and 
he chooses such as will be best adapted to the 
nature of the work to be accomplished. It is in the 
light of this truth, that we must view the work of 
the Saviour. Christ came into the world, not to 
correct any mistakes of divine Wisdom — not to rem- 
edy any oversight, error, or failure in the original 



60 



ARGUMENTS FR031 THE 



plans of his Father — but simply to carry those plans 
into execution! Jesus is the great Agent, to whom, 
according to his primary purpose, God entrusts the 
carrying into effect his gracious purposes for the sal- 
vation of the world. In conformity with this view, 
Christ is denominated the "Mediator between God 
and men" 1 — the medium through which Jehovah 
works out his designs in respect to his creatures. 
Hence, St. Paul declares, that in the Redeemer " are 
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." 2 
Hence also he is called "the Power of God, and the 
Wisdom of God." It is in reference to this view of 
the subject, that Jesus exclaims — "I came down 
from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will 
of him that sent me." 4 And in farther manifesta- 
tion of the same truth, Christ declared, "God sent 
not his Son into the world to condemn the world ; 
but that the world through him might be saved." 5 
To preserve consistency, therefore, as believers in a 
God of perfect Wisdom, it is incumbent to look upon 
the advent, mission, and reign of Christ, not as the 
fruit of any previous frustration of the purposes of 
the Creator, but as an evidence and pledge of the 
happy consummation of every design he has formed 
in regard to his earthly offspring ! 

THE ARGUMENT RESTED. 

Here we rest the argument on this Attribute. 
The premises being established clearly, not only by 
the united voices of Scripture and reason, but by an 

ilTim.ii.5. 2Col.ii.3. 3 1 Cor. 1. 24. 4 John vi. 38. 5 Johniii. 17. 



WISDOM OF GOD. 



61 



almost universal consent of believers in the divine 
existence, that the Wisdom of the Creator is infinite, 
and that under the promptings of his impartial love, 
he formed the human race with a deliberate purpose 
to have their existence result in the endless blessed- 
ness of all, the conclusion that all will eventually 
participate in this blessedness, is clear, distinct, and 
unavoidable ; and no skill or sophistry can avoid 
it. Reason must become foolishness, and the whole 
current of rational logic must be reversed, before 
the premises and the conclusion at which we have 
arrived, can be dissevered from each other. And 
the great truth to which this course of reasoning 
leads, reveals the highest possible glory of God in 
securing the holiness and bliss of his intelligent 
creation, and accords not only with the reason of 
man, but with the purest and holiest desires that 
can be entertained in the heart of a Christian. 
What more solid and secure basis can be required 
for belief? 

" Here then we rest. The Universal Cause 
Acts to one end, but acts by various laws." 



ARGUMENT III. 



THE POWER OF GOD. 

" Thou hast built, 

With means that were not, till by thee employed, 
Worlds that had never been, hadst thou in Strength 
Been less, or less Benevolent than Strong. 
They are thy witnesses, who speak thy Power 
And Goodness infinite." 



EFFECT OF LOSING SIGHT OF THE POWER OF GOD. 

In meditating upon the Attributes of the Deity, 
it is vitally important that his Power be not over- 
looked. It is one of the primary and essential per- 
fections of the Most High ; and a misunderstanding 
of its capability, or of its office in the providence of 
God, is fatal to those right conceptions of the Creator, 
which are necessary to give peace and resignation to 
the believer. In losing sight, or in underrating the 
Power of Jehovah, the efficacy and usefulness of all 
his other attributes are destroyed. Of what avail 
to believe that he is infinite in Goodness and bound- 
less and impartial in his Love, or that he is actuated 
by the most kind and benevolent regard for his 
creatures ; of what avail to believe that his Wisdom 
is infinitely capable of originating and arranging 
plans perfectly adapted to carry out into successful 
execution, all the holy promptings of his love for 
his earthly offspring — of what avail, these just con- 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE POWER OF GOD. 63 



ceptions, if connected with them is the belief that 
he is deficient in the Power, whether physical or 
moral, of executing the promptings of his Goodness, 
or of carrying his wise plans into a practical con- 
summation ? A ruler may enact the most wise and 
wholesome laws for the regulation of his kingdom, 
and be animated with a desire to do for his subjects 
the utmost good their circumstances can require 
at his hands ; yet, if he is deficient in the requisite 
power to execute his laws, and accomplish his de- 
sires, all his wise and good intentions will be of no 
avail. So far as any real and practical benefit to 
his subjects is concerned, his wise laws might as 
well have not been enacted, and his benevolent 
intentions have not been cherished. A similar con- 
clusion will apply to the Supreme Being. So far as 
man's interest and happiness are involved, he might 
as well have been a God of Evil as of Love, if he 
possesses no ability to accomplish the promptings 
of that Love ; he might as well have been a God of 
Foolishness as of Wisdom, if he has no Power to 
carry into execution the plans which his Wisdom 
has devised. 



god's power co-extensive with his wisdom. 

We have seen, in previous Arguments, that the 
Goodness of the Creator is impartial and immutable, 
and that his Wisdom is infinite and unerring. Is 
his Power co-extensive with his Goodness and Wis- 
dom? In other words, does he possess sufficient 
ability successfully to execute the purposes and 
6 



64 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



plans his Goodness has prompted and his Wisdom 
has arranged for the final salvation and reconcilia- 
tion of all mankind ? This is a vital inquiry, and 
one that affects materially the very foundation of 
human hope. 

" Hope is earths most estimable prize." 

"Hope thou in God," 1 exclaims the Psalmist. St. 
Paul prays, " Now, the God of hope fill you with 
all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound 
in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." 2 
And the same Apostle speaks of fleeing to the 
hope of the gospel, and laying hold upon it, as a 
"refuge " — and declares this hope is "as an anchor of 
the soul, both sure and steadfast." 3 But how can a 
man comply with the requisition of the Psalmist, or 
experience the benefits of that hope in God which is 
described by St. Paul, who distrusts the Creator's 
ability to accomplish his purposes? — who doubts 
whether he really has Power to fulfil all his prom- 
ises, and complete all his plans'? Such a doubt, 
such a distrust, most clearly undermines all con- 
sistent hope in the human soul, and sets it afloat on 
a boundless and troubled sea of uncertainty. 

PRACTICAL DENIAL OF THE ATTRIBUTES. 

It is not unfrequently the case, that people will 
acknowledge the existence of the attributes of God, 
theoretically, but at the same time, practically deny 
them. Thus while it is an admitted point in every 

» Ps. adii. 5. 2 Rom. xv. 13. 3 Heb. vi. 18, 19. 



POWER OF GOD. 



65 



system of theology among Christian sects, that Jeho- 
vah is omnipotent in Power, there are not a few 
who, in the practical application of this Power to 
the purposes of God, view it as weak, inefficient and 
imperfect. So that although the Love of the Creator 
yearns over the whole of humanity, with an infinite 
desire to bless them all with boundless felicity — and 
although his infinite Wisdom has enabled him to 
form plans in all things fully adapted to the com- 
plete accomplishment of this holy desire — yet he 
must be forever disappointed and ungratified in this 
respect, in consequence of a lack of ability to carry 
these plans into perfect execution ! This is the 
great defect in the popular systems of the present 
day. Theory and practice — which is but cause and 
effect — are, according to these systems, disconnected 
in the character of God — and while he is omnipotent 
in Power, is not able to fulfil his purposes. A most 
marked and startling contradiction in terms! To 
remedy this defect, it is only necessary for the mind 
to understand that Jehovah's Power is not only 
omnipotent in name, but is omnipotent in practice. 

THE SCRIPTURES ASSERT GOD's POWER. 

The Scriptures emphatically declare that Power 
is one of the attributes of the Deity. "Thine, O 
Lord, is the greatness, and the power and the glory. 
# * # Thou reignest over all : and in thy hand is 
power and might; and in thy hand it is to make 
great, and to give strength unto all." 1 " God hath 
spoken once ; twice have I heard this, that power 

1 1 Chron. xxix. 11, 12. 



66 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



belongeth unto God." 1 That this Power is omnipo- 
tent and irresistible, is made equally clear by the 
inspired word. " Alleluia ; for the Lord God omnip- 
otent reigneth." 2 " I am the Almighty God." 3 "And 
God said unto him, I am God Almighty." 4 The word 
Almighty, applied to an infinite being, must necessa- 
rily receive its fullest extent of meaning. It is sy- 
nonymous with Omnipotent, and signifies unlimited 
power. The Scriptures, moreover, abound with pas- 
sages descriptive of the practical application of this 
Power by Jehovah, both in nature and in provi- 
dence. " Who hath measured the waters in the hol- 
low of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, 
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, 
and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills 
in a balance ? * * * # Behold, the nations are as 
a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small 
dust of the balance : behold, he taketh up the isles 
as a very little thing." 5 " The Lord of hosts hath 
purposed, and who shall disannul it ? and his hand 
is stretched out, and who shall turn it back." 6 "God 
hath power to help and to cast down." 7 " He 
divideth the sea with his power, and by his under- 
standing he smiteth through the proud." 8 

ALL CREATED THINGS ATTEST THE POWER OF GOD. 

w How sweet to muse upon His skill display'd, 
(Infinite skill!) in all that he has made; 
To trace in Nature's most minute design, 
The signature and stamp of Power Divine." 

When we again turn our contemplation to the 
works of Nature for evidence corroborative of the 

iFs.lxii.il. 2 Rev.xix.6. s Gen.xvii. 1. 4 Gen. xxxv. 11. 
« Isa. xl. 12— 15. 6 Isa.xiv.27. » 2 Chron. xxv. 8. 8j 0 bxxvi.l2. 



POWER OF GOD. 67 

words of Inspiration, the same indications can be 
discovered of the Power of God, as of his Goodness 
and Wisdom. And Nature is a book that all can 
read, and one that never errs in its instructive les- 
sons. " As the sea reflects the rays of the sun, so 
do the works of Nature reflect the character of 
God." We are filled with surprise and astonish- 
ment at the power exerted in erecting the obelisks 
and pyramids of Egypt — those structures which 
have withstood the storms and convulsions of thou- 
sands of years. But how utterly this power sinks 
into weakness and nothingness, when compared 
with that displayed by God, in creating this earth. 
And when we look to the heavens, and behold the 
countless globes floating in the fields of ether, in 
comparison with many of which, our world is but 
as a pebble, and endeavor to realize that not only 
within the circle of man's vision, but throughout 
limitless space, there is reason to believe, similar 
ponderous bodies exist in endless profusion, rolling 
on gloriously and forever in their vast circles, and 
fulfilling the mission for which they were designed ; 
the human mind is overwhelmed with the immen- 
sity of Power which must have been requisite to 
usher them into existence ! What hand but that of 
Omnipotence could have moulded in its palm those 
mighty globes, as the potter shapes his vessel ? 
What arm but that of Omnipotence could have 
launched them forth into the ocean of limitless 
space, with an impetus which, experiencing no 
diminution, urges them on their rapid flight forever? 
What power but Omnipotence could have reared 
6* 



68 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



and sustained the adamantine pillars of the uni- 
verse — could have arranged the heavenly bodies in 
their proper spheres — guided and controlled them in 
their distinct orbits, and with unerring precision, 
caused world to revolve around world, and system 
within system, in an all-perfect and eternal har- 
mony? 

" With what an awful world-revolving power 
Were first th' unwieldly planets launched along 
Th' illimitable void ! Thus to remain, 
Amid the flux of many thousand years, 
That oft has swept the toiling race of men 
And all their labored monuments away, 
Firm, unremitting, matchless in their course ; 
To the kind-tempered change of night and day, 
And of the seasons ever stealing round, 
Minutely faithful." 

Nature's superstructure in every part — earth, seas 
and skies, sun, moon and stars — the ponderous and 
the minute, the suns that blaze in the heavens, the 
atoms that compose a grain of sand — the hoarse 
voice of the thunderbolt, the murmurings of the 
zephyr — the flash of the rapid lightning, the scintil- 
lation of the glow-worm — bespeak the infinite 
energies and capabilities of the creating Jehovah ! 
Upon all things in existence, is enstamped, in living 
characters of light, Omnipotence ! Omnipotence ! ! * 

" Lord, when my thoughtful soul surveys 
Fire, air, and earth, and stars and seas, 

* " On the dial of the cathedral at Bruges, the sun is represented 
directing the hours, with this motto, Non rego, nisi, regar : signify- 
ing that the sun could not rule the day, if it was not first ruled 
itself." 



POWER OF GOD. 



69 



I call them all thy slaves ; 
Commissioned by my Father's will, 
Poison shall cure, or balm shall kill ; 
Vernal suns or zephyr's breath 
May burn or blast the plants to death, 

That sharp December saves. 
What can winds or planets boast 

But a precarious power ? 
The sun is all in darkness lost, 
Frost shall be fire, and fire be frost, 
When he appoints the hour." 

THE POWER OF GOD APPLIED TO HIS PLANS. 

The existence of Omnipotent Power, as another 
of the great fundamental attributes of Deity, being 
thus indubitably established by the combined testi- 
mony of Scripture and Nature, it becomes indispen- 
sably necessary, as we would have a truthful and 
consistent system of religion, to keep it with all its 
measureless energies, constantly in view. Man can 
confide in this attribute — can depend upon it — can 
reasonably believe that it is as infinitely capable of 
executing^ as Goodness* is of prompting, and Wis- 
dom of planning, ail the works of the providence 
of God ! 

It has been shown in former Arguments that the 
human race were ushered into existence under the 
prompting of the attribute of infinite Goodness, and 
that the object aimed at by the Creator, could have 
been nothing less than the final and eternal felicity 
of every child of humanity — that Goodness would 
forever have forbidden the creation of intelligent 
and sensitive beings, for any other purpose than 



70 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



such as accords with its own benevolent promptings. 
It has also been shown that, being infinite in Wis- 
dom and omniscient in Knowledge — as clearly be- 
holding the end as the beginning — the Deity was 
enabled to form infinitely comprehensive, efficient 
and all-perfect plans for the successful accomplish- 
ment of his holy purpose in creation — plans ar- 
ranged in full foresight of every possible obstacle or 
difficulty that could interfere with their operation — 
plans that took into consideration man's passions, 
tastes, inclinations, habits, mental and moral capa- 
bilities, and every conceivable abuse of his endow- 
ments, and the unhappy consequences of such abuse, 
as well as their natural use and the accruing bene- 
fits — plans adapted to man in every stage of ex- 
istence, not only as an ignorant, erring, sinful being, 
but as one capable of reformation, improvement, and 
unmeasured advancement in holiness, knowledge 
and happiness. And now, having furthermore seen 
that Jehovah is clothed with omnipotent Power, 
fully commensurate with his other attributes, have 
we not the most sound and legitimate reasons for 
the belief, that his Almighty energy will be brought 
into an adequate exercise, in the accomplishment of 
his wise and worthy plans, and universal humanity, 
the offspring of God, be brought eventually into the 
full enjoyment of that perfect state of felicity, for 
which they were originally designed ? Who, in the 
clear exercise of reason, can have a doubt on this 
point? Who, with a just conception of the nature 
of the Divine Attributes — their influence in the 
councils of the Most High — their inexhaustible 



POWER OF GOD. 



71 



resources, and infinite energies — can have a doubt 
on this point? With the premises before us, dis- 
tinctly understood, are not all doubts as to this glo- 
rious and happy result of creation, clearly in viola- 
tion of man's enlightened judgment, and a plain 
contradiction of the first principles of ' logic and 
common sense ? 

UNIVERSAL SALVATION ACCORDS WITH PUREST DESIRES 
OF PUREST HEARTS. 

If the conclusion at which we have arrived by a 
direct and clear course of deduction, according to 
the teachings of reason, was in opposition to the 
holy and benevolent desires of the sanctified and 
christian heart, or in violation of the inspired word 
of God, there would be apology for doubt. But 
such is not the case. It is a truth which will be 
attested unanimously, by persons of every sect, who 
have been born of the spirit of Christ, that nothing 
can be more in accordance with every pure and 
heavenly desire of the Christian's heart, than the 
prospect of the ultimate repentance and reformation 
of every sinner — the yielding up of all hearts to the 
holy influences of the divine spirit — the willing sub- 
jection of all souls to the blessed reign of Christ — 
the deliverance of all men from sin, and evil, and 
death — and the final gathering of the Universal 
Family around the Throne of the Common Father, 
united in everlasting bonds of love and peace ! And 
is it possible that the Scriptures contradict a con- 
summation which the heart so ardently desires, 



72 ARGUMENTS FROM THE 

and the truth of which reason declares so emphati- 
cally? If such were the fact, then would there 
be a direct collision in the works of the Most High 
— then would the word of God in revelation, con- 
tradict the voice of God as it speaks through the 
pure heart and the clear mind of man \ But it is 
not so. While there is not in the Bible a passage 
which by a fair, enlightened construction, according 
to the laws of language, and the rules of interpreta- 
tion, can be made to contradict in the slightest de- 
gree, the final salvation of all men, there are nu- 
merous declarations which affirm this doctrine in a 
manner as distinct and unequivocal as the capability 
of human language can allow. From the abun- 
dance of this scripture testimony, the following 
must, in this place, suffice — " Behold the Lamb of 
God, which taketh away the sin of the world!" 1 
" We have seen and do testify, that the Father sent 
the Son to be the Saviour of the world." 2 God 
"will have all men to be saved, and to come unto 
the knowledge of the truth." 3 Here, then, is the 
union of God's word, and man's heart and reason, — 
all cooperating and combining to proclaim a con- 
summation calculated to give the highest joy to 
men and angels ! 

AN OBJECTION ANTICIPATED MAN'S FREEDOM. 

But let us anticipate an objection. The freedom 
which God has given his creatures the power to ex- 



1 John i. 29. 



2 1 John iv. 14. 



3 1 Tim. li. 4. 



POWER OF GOD. 



73 



ercise, is supposed to be destructive to the desirable 
conclusions at which we have above arrived. It is 
contended that man has been left free to obey or 
disobey the law of God, according to the volition 
of his own mind — that the reward of obedience, 
and the punishment of disobedience, have been 
placed clearly and distinctly before him — and that 
multitudes, in the exercise of this liberty, do disobey 
and incur the penalty of unending wretchedness — 
which doom is to be attributed, not to their Creator, 
but to their own wickedness, inasmuch as they 
could have escaped it, had they complied with the 
terms of salvation. Allowing these positions to be 
true, as we do, with a single exception, and yet it is 
self-evident that they do not militate in the slightest 
degree, against the ultimate salvation of all men. 
Could it be shown that man, in the exercise of moral 
freedom, will forever violate the laws of Jehovah — 
will forever go on in sin — then it is acknowledged, 
he will forever receive the inflictions of just punish- 
ment. For it will be right for God to chastise his 
creatures so long as they refuse to yield obedience 
to his righteous government. But this position is 
altogether untenable. It is contradicted alike by 
experience, reason and scripture. The most sinful 
among men have been reformed, without violating 
their moral freedom. If one sinner can thus be re- 
formed, then it is a logical deduction, that all sin- 
ners can be thus reformed. And it is an assertion 
susceptible of the clearest demonstration, that in the 
providence of a God of infinite capabilities, what- 
ever good and desirable work may or can be done, 



74 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



will be done ! Moreover the great and sole object 

of Christ's mediatorial reign, was to bring to pass 
the good and desirable work of the reformation, 
not of a part only, but of all mankind — or in other 
words, to save the world, and reconcile to God all 
the unreconciled and sinful: "We have seen, and 
do testify, that the Father sent the Son, to be the 
Saviour of the world" 1 " For it pleased the Father 
that in him [Christ] should all fulness dwell : and 
having made peace through the blood of his cross, 
by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, 
I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in 
heaven." 2 "All things are of God, who hath re- 
conciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath 
given to us the ministry of reconciliation : to wit, 
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto 
himself." 3 That the Saviour in " the dispensation 
of the fulness of times," either in the present or fu- 
ture world, will succeed in bringing all sinners to 
repentance, is made absolutely certain by the word 
of God: " Wherefore God hath highly exalted him, 
and given him a name which is above every name : 
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 
of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things 
under the earth ; and that every tongue should con- 
fess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
the Father." 4 "And when all things shall be sub- 
dued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be 
subject unto him that put all things under him, that 
God may be all in all." 5 When that time shall come, 

1 1 John iv. 14. 2 Colos. i. 19, 20. 3 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. 
4 Phil. ii. 9-11. e i cor. xv. 28. 



POWER OF GOD. 75 

here undisputably foretold by inspiration, that God 
shall become ALL in ALL, then necessarily, there 
can be no sin in a single child of humanity. When 
a God of holiness and love, is not only in all beings, 
but is all within them, i. e., pervades their souls 
wholly and completely, to the exclusion of all op- 
posing principles, which is the undoubted meaning 
of St. Paul's plain and emphatic language, what 
shadow of an argument can be raised that iniquity 
can then be found in a single member of the human 
race? The conclusion, therefore, is obvious, that 
although man is made morally free, and will con- 
tinue so forever, and although in the exercise of this 
freedom, under the influence of ignorance, blindness 
and fleshly passions, he may violate the law of God, 
and experience its penalties for a season, yet so far 
from continuing voluntarily to sin and to feel its con- 
sequent sting forever, the argument is irresistible, 
that all will finally turn from wickedness, and seek 
and serve the living God. The woes which sin un- 
avoidably brings upon the guilty, must necessarily 
prompt them, in due time, to exercise their freedom 
and refrain from iniquity, that they may thus escape 
its fearful consequences. The only objection that 
can possibly be brought against this conclusion, 
must be that God will interfere with the exercise of 
man's freedom, or deprive him entirely of it, and 
thus deny him the privilege of forsaking sin, and 
compel him to remain in a state of hardness and in- 
iquity forever ! But this objection so violates all 
conceptions of the Creator's character — is so in op- 
position to his holiness and justice — that its fallacy 
7 



76 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



must be self-evident. Would it be right for God to 
prevent the sinner from reforming? — would it be 
jvst? Why should a being of impartial Goodness, 
who seeks the welfare of his creatures, and who, the 
Scriptures declare, is desirous that "all should 
come to repentance," interfere when the sinner 
would repent, and raise obstacles to prevent it? 
Does the Bible represent God as acting in this con- 
tradictory manner ? It does not. 

THE PENALTY OF ENDLESS PUNISHMENT NOT ATTACHED 
TO GOD'S LAW. 

In stating the objection to the doctrine of a world's 
salvation, which is founded on man's moral freedom, 
an exception was made to a single point. It is this, 
viz., that the penalty inflicted by the Ruler of the 
world, for a violation of his law, is a state of pun- 
ishment without end. In no part of the Bible, is 
such a punishment declared to be the penalty of 
God's law. Let the reader search for himself, and 
he will become satisfied of the correctness of this 
assertion. And the decision of the Scriptures is 
amply supported by the deductions of reason. The 
proportion between the greatest amount of guilt that 
the most blind and hardened of erring humanity can 
incur in this life, and an eternity of woe, is so infi- 
nitely unequal and dissimilar, and so directly in vio- 
lation of all conceptions of justice and equity, that 
the unbiassed mind rejects it as utterly absurd and 
monstrous. Moreover, if God had affixed such a 
penalty to his law, it would have defeated his own 



POWER OF GOD. 



77 



designs. Creating mankind under the prompting 
of infinite Goodness, his purpose must have been, 
as already shown, to bring each being thus formed 
into a final state of holiness and bliss. But who 
does not perceive that foreseeing as he did, that man 
would be a sinner, and transgress his command- 
ments, to have annexed endless punishment as the 
penalty for the violation of his law, would have en- 
tirely disarranged and overthrown this most holy 
and benevolent original design? The all-perfect 
God cannot be considered as proceeding in this blind 
and contradictory manner. Human beings, in their 
ignorance, may "cross their own track;" but not 
so with the omniscient Deity. Whatever course he 
may pursue in moving on the wheels of his perfect 
providence, we may be positive he takes no step 
which will, in the slightest degree, infringe upon 
his original designs towards man, conceived in 
boundless purity, goodness and wisdom. 

The position we have taken, that God attached 
no penalty to his law, which overthrew his design 
to bless and save the world, is fully confirmed by St. 
Paul : " Now to Abraham and his seed were the 
promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of 
many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is 
Christ. And this I say, That the covenant that 
was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, 
which was four hundred and thirty years after, can- 
not disannul, that it should make the promise of 
none effect." 1 The promises to which the Apostle 
refers, were those made by Jehovah unto Abraham 
i Gal. iii. 16. 17. 



78 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



and repeated unto Isaac and Jacob, and which he 
describes in the same chapter to be as follows : 
"And the Scriptures, foreseeing that God would 
justify the heathen through faith, preached before 
the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all 
nations be blessed." 1 The Apostle here maintains 
that no law or penalty can overthrow the original 
design revealed by God in his promise to Abraham, 
to bless in Christ, all the kindreds and families of 
the earth. The conclusion to which he thus carries 
us is obvious and positive. 

PREVAILING VIEWS OF MAN ? S FREEDOM INCONSISTENT. 

The objection we are considering, based upon 
man's acknowledged agency or freedom, is very pe- 
culiar in its character. If it were but allowed that 
mankind are not only endowed with freedom in this 
life, but that they will possess the same freedom in 
the world to come, and forever, which is dictated by 
common sense, and demanded by every principle of 
mental and moral philosophy, then the Creator 
would be represented as acting consistently, and 
this freedom would present no obstacle to the ac- 
complishment of God's holy design and desire to 
bring all his creatures to holiness and bliss. Be- 
cause it is clearly self-evident that every intelligent 
being would, in time, become convinced that sin was 
his worst foe, and the cause of all his wretchedness ; 
and being free to act, would voluntarily turn away 
from its practice, and seek after that righteousness 



1 Gal. iii. 8. See also, Gen. xii. 3 ; xxvi. 4 ; xxviii. 14. 



POWER OF GOD. 



79 



and purity which are the unfailing fountains of hap- 
piness. But the exercise of this freedom hereafter 
is singularly not allowed, by those who are the 
most pertinacious advocates of its existence here. 
It is strangely contended that God permits his crea- 
tures the exercise of freedom in this life only — just 
sufficiently long to enable them to violate his law, 
and incur its supposed eternal penalties, and then he 
removes them from the world — deprives them of all 
their freedom, or, in other words, makes them slaves 
— and compels them by the exercise of his omnipo- 
tent Power, whether they would or not, to continue 
in bondage to sin and its woes forever ! 1 

The reader can but acknowledge that these, to 
say the least, are singular views of human freedom, 
and of the consistency and wisdom of the Creator's 
providence. Such views, however, are not only in- 
consistent, but are evidently in violation of all the 
teachings of mental philosophy. If man is endow- 
ed with freedom of action, it is a constituent and 
elementary principle or ingredient of his mental na- 
ture. Hence, to deprive him of it, would be to dis- 
member and destroy his nature as man, and make 
him a nondescript — a being without conscience, and 
without accountability. In fine, the man — the intel- 
ligent, moral being — would be as effectually stricken 
out of existence, and annihilated, as though deprived 
entirely of consciousness — and there would be left 
only a bundle of sensations, suffering as uncon- 

1 Thus God is represented a great slave-owner, and we might add, 
in accordance with human creeds, the devil is made his 11 slave- 
driver," forever ! 

7* 



80 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



sciously as the carcass of an animal twinges with 
spasmodic convulsions, after life has departed. 
There is no conclusion more obvious than that if 
man is now endowed with freedom, he will forever 
possess it, so long as he continues in conscious being 
— will forever have the power, the liberty, the right, 
of choosing good or evil, and experiencing the con- 
sequences of his choice. So long as he prefers evil, 
he must suffer evil ; but whenever he is disposed to 
forsake evil and follow good, that he may reap the 
fruits of good, he will possess the right, power, and 
opportunity of doing so, in the future as well as the 
present world. 

man's agency frustrating the plans of god. 

The view of man's agency or freedom now gen- 
erally entertained, places the Creator in a most 
strange light. It represents him who has brought 
the human race into existence for the purpose of 
making them all his obedient children, and the re- 
cipients of boundless holiness and bliss, as imme- 
diately endowing them with a power, by which they 
are at once capable of entirely thwarting and over- 
throwing his plans. Thus he is presented as delib- 
erately and knowingly "crossing his own path" — 
hedging up his own way — and voluntarily placing 
insurmountable obstacles to the accomplishment of 
his purposes, and the gratification of his most holy 
desires ! This theory holds up to our view a God 
who is desirous of saving all mankind, but is not 
able. And why 1 Because he has given his crea- 
tures more power than he has retained to himself 



POWER OF GOD. 



81 



— has given them power to withstand all his power 
— and thus while he is striving to save all the 
world, most of the world resist successfully his ef- 
forts, by the exercise of a power or freedom, which 
he knowingly himself bestowed upon them ! Can 
an intelligent reader bring himself to adopt these 
conclusions as consistent and reasonable ? — And do 
not those who take such views of the movements 
of the Creator's providence, virtually class them- 
selves with those mentioned by the prophet? — 
" They have no knowledge that * * * * * pray 
unto a god that cannot save." 1 

COMMON VIEW OF AGENCY VIOLATES THE SCRIPTURES. 

The common understanding of man's freedom or 
"free agency," not only is in evident violation of 
the first principles of reason, but also in conflict 
with many of the most pointed and pungent por- 
tions of the Bible. The Deity makes the following 
declaration and inquiry: "Behold, I am the Lord, 
the God of all flesh : is there anything too hard for 
me?" 2 This question is evidently asked in refer- 
ence to what Jehovah can do for " all flesh." How 
would the advocates of man's agency, as above no- 
ticed, answer this inquiry? To be consistent with 
their theory, they would be compelled to say — 
"Yes, Lord God of all flesh, the salvation of all 
the intelligent creatures whom thou hast formed, is 
a work altogether too hard for thee ! Thou canst 
not accomplish it, for thou hast given unto men an 



1 Isa. xlv. 20. 



2 Jer. xxxii. 27. 



82 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



agency by which they can resist thy power — with- 
stand all thy influences — disarrange and destroy all 
thy holy and benevolent plans of salvation — and 
rush recklessly into hell — notwithstanding all thy 
efforts to raise them to heaven! ! " What a reply to 
return to the all- perfect God ! Not only does it vio- 
late the meaning and spirit of the question in the 
above passage of Scripture, but it flatly contradicts 
another declaration of God's word in the same chap- 
ter — u Ah, Lord God! behold thou hast made the 
heaven and the earth by thy great power and 
stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for 
thee. * * * * * The Great, the Mighty God, the 
Lord of hosts, is his name : great in counsel, and 
mighty in work." 1 The salvation of the entire hu- 
man race, is acknowledgedly both a physical and 
moral possibility. If it is possible to save one of a 
race, then it is within the range of possibility to 
save all. Hence the redemption and reconciliation 
of a world of sinners is legitimately and necessa- 
rily included within the above declaration, that 
there is nothing too hard for God. And the posi- 
tion that Universal Salvation is too hard a work for 
Deity, through any cause whatever, must be 
groundless and false, or God's word untrue ! 



THE SAVIOUR'S INQUIRY APPLIED TO THE SUBJECT. 

On a certain occasion the Saviour made the fol- 
lowing very reasonable and pointed inquiry : 
" Which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth 



1 Jer. xxxii. 17-19. 



POWER OF GOD. 



83 



not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he 
have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he 
hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, 
all that behold it begin to mock him, saying, this 
man began to build, and was not able to finish." 1 
The principle involved in this passage is, that a man 
who should commence erecting an edifice, without 
first ascertaining whether he was able to complete 
it, would be deficient in foresight, discretion and 
wisdom. And yet is not this precisely the light in 
which the Creator is represented by the advocates of 
a limited salvation ? Under the promptings of infi- 
nite Goodness, he commenced the work of forming a 
race of human beings, who should eventually become 
perfect, holy, and happy as the angels in heaven. 
But unfortunately, in putting this most worthy plan 
into execution, he meets with a signal failure, and 
so far from bringing them into this state of perfec- 
tion and bliss, countless millions sink into endless 
sin and woe. If this is a true representation of the 
result of God's work of creation, is it not an una- 
voidable conclusion that Jehovah did not first count 
the cost — did not first ascertain whether he was able 
to complete his work — but commenced with the 
same blindness and recklessness of the result, as the 
man who should begin to build a tower without 
first learning whether he could complete it. Who 
is prepared to charge this glaring imbecility on the 
infinite God ? If it is a mark of prudence and wis- 
dom in man not to commence a work without look- 



1 Luke xiv. 28—30. 



84 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



ing into his means, and ascertaining whether he has 
resources sufficient to finish it, can we do less than 
ascribe an equal amount of discretion and foresight 
to the great Jehovah? And if he possesses these 
qualities only in the same degree as a wise man, 
(without adverting to the acknowledged fact, that 
he possesses every attribute of foresight, discretion, 
wisdom, and all similar qualities, in infinite perfec- 
tion,) it is an obvious conclusion, that he would not 
begin a work so important in its nature and lasting 
in its consequences, as the creation of a race of sen- 
tient and rational beings, without clearly foreseeing 
and satisfying himself, that he should be able to 
complete it according to the original design. That 
the Deity acknowledgedly efoZ commence the work 
of human creation, in full possession of the attri- 
butes of wisdom and foresight, and under the influ- 
ence of infinite love, is conclusive evidence that he 
believed and saw, that all men would finally enter 
upon infinite purity and bliss ! 

THE EFFECT OF MAN'S AGENCY FORESEEN BY GOD. 

The argument which is attempted to be raised 
against the reign of universal peace and love, on 
man's freedom of action, is thus seen to be ground- 
less in every point in which it can be viewed. 
When God endowed his creatures with free agency, 
or moral agency, he must have foreseen the ope- 
ration, influence, and result which the exercise 
of this power would produce in the case of every 
human being. To contend that he foresaw it would 
prove an insurmountable obstacle to the fulfilment 



POWER OF GOD. 



85 



of his purposes of love in creation — to contend that 
he foreknew his creatures would use this power to 
their endless ruin and wretchedness, as he must, if 
such will actually be the result — is to contend that 
he deliberately purposed evil, and coolly determined 
to give his creatures an instrument of self-destruc- 
tion. This is a self-contradiction, inasmuch as infi- 
nite love can never produce, or consent to, infinite 
evil. If we appeal to the dictates of the heart, or 
the decisions of the mind, they will assure us, that 
if men could not be endowed with freedom of 
action, without its endangering the everlasting hap- 
piness of the soul, it would have been better, infi- 
nitely better, to have deprived them of this power, 
or have allowed them to sleep in the harmless em- 
brace of annihilation. But to suppose a being of 
infinite Goodness and Wisdom would engraft upon 
the nature of his offspring, without their consent or 
knowledge, an endowment which, in countless mil- 
lions of cases, he clearly saw would lead to their 
ceaseless wretchedness, is a violation of every dic- 
tate of reason and consistency. To give a shade of 
the coloring of propriety to this position, it must first 
be proved that Deity possesses neither Goodness nor 
Wisdom ! Looking at the character and attributes 
of God, as universally acknowledged, it becomes 
evident that in endowing his creatures with moral 
freedom, so far from foreseeing it would prove the 
destruction of any, he clearly perceived it would 
promote the welfare of all — that it would lead them 
all up to higher stages of moral and spiritual perfec- 
tion than could be attained in any other manner — 



86 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



and would prove a most efficient and successful 
instrument in the final accomplishment of his pur- 
pose to elevate the human race to boundless purity 
and happiness. 

GOD OMNIPOTENT IN MORAL POWER, AS WELL AS IN 
PHYSICAL. 

Another objection to the argument in favor of 
Universal Reconciliation, based on the omnipotence 
of God's Power, may demand a passing notice. It 
is this — li That although Jehovah is omnipotent in 
Power, yet an argument cannot consistently be 
drawn from this fact, in support of the salvation of 
all, inasmuch as it is not reasonable to suppose he 
will exert physical power, and/orce his creatures to 
heaven, whether they consent or not." To all this 
we willingly assent, and yet our theory is not 
invalidated in the remotest degree. God is no more 
omnipotent in j)hysical power, than in his moral 
and spiritual power. His resources to carry on his 
works, accomplish his will, and complete his de- 
signs, in his spiritual creation, are as boundless and 
as infinitely efficient, as in his physical creation. 
He is capable of governing and guiding the move- 
ments of the physical world — of causing every law 
of nature to operate, through all time, with the 
utmost perfection, producing the results designed in 
the original plans — and of influencing all the wheels 
of the great machinery of the universe, to move on 
forever, "without variableness or the shadow of 
turning." Equally capable is he of governing and 
guiding all things in the spiritual universe — of hav- 



POWER OF GOD. 87 

ing all its principles and properties developed in 
infinite activity — all its laws and influences fully- 
obeyed — and bringing to perfect maturity all the 
fruits which these laws, principles, and properties, 
are capable of producing. It is true we are not 
acquainted with all the laws and properties in the 
spiritual world, nor do we at present comprehend 
all the movements of those laws and properties, 
with which we are partially acquainted. And 
indeed the same is our condition respecting the 
physical world. Numerous laws are in existence 
and in operation, which we cannot comprehend. 
Yet the perfection in which those laws of nature 
operate which we do understand, affords the most 
abundant assurance of the perfect operation of those 
which outreach our comprehension and knowledge. 
As it is self-evident Jehovah has physical resources 
at his command which exceed our present knowl- 
edge, and far transcend every possible human con- 
ception, so it is equally evident he has moral or 
spiritual resources at his disposal, which are infi- 
nitely beyond the most expanded idea that the soul 
of man is now capable of entertaining. In this 
world man has no opportunity to behold all the dis- 
plays of either the physical or moral power of the 
Creator. Hence it is unreasonable to pretend to 
judge of his resources in either respect, by those 
limited manifestations, which come within the cog- 
nizance of our feeble senses in the present existence. 
To suppose we can measure the spiritual capabilities 
of Deity by the displays we can witness in this life, 
is as inconsistent and illogical, as to imagine that 
8 



88 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



the rearing of a plant, or the creation of an animal- 
cule, brings to our view and understanding a 
development of all those omnipotent physical ener- 
gies, by which he has filled boundless space with 
the light and glory of his creations. 

But measurable only as are the displays of God's 
spiritual Power in this life, yet enough is manifested 
even here, to satisfy the most skeptical^that it is 
amply sufficient to influence all hearts and save all 
souls. Surely, if the Creator has sufficient Power 
to influence and move the heart of a Pharaoh, and 
a Saul of Tarsus, "the chief of sinners," not to men- 
tion the numerous other cases of like display re- 
corded in the Scriptures, then his Power is amply 
abundant to influence, to every desirable degree, 
the hearts of any, and all other sinners. These 
cases cited, show the existence of a sufficient spirit- 
ual power ; and that God will properly and effi- 
ciently exercise it, "in his own good time," to the 
purification of all his intelligent creatures, is a con- 
clusion to which all must arrive who will give due 
credit to his infinite holiness, goodness and benefi- 
cence ! For the human heart is in the hands of 
the Lord, and " as the rivers of water, he turneth it 
whithersoever he will." 1 

EVIDENCE OF GOD's MORAL POWER FROM THE SCRIP- 
TURES. 

The Scriptures attest the power of God over the 
human soul, in the great and glorious works, which 



1 Prov. xxi. 1. 



POWER OF GOD. 



89 



they declare he will yet do for man. " Look unto 
me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ; for 
I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by 
myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righ- 
teousness, and shall not return, that unto me every 
knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. 
Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteous- 
ness and strength. To him shall men come ; and all 
that are incensed against him shall be ashamed." 1 
The salvation of the world — the causing of all to be 
ashamed of their opposition to God and his laws — 
the bringing all to declare their righteousness and 
strength derived from the Creator — a work which is 
here distinctly attributed to Jehovah — illustrates the 
moral Power which he is capable of exercising over 
the hearts of men, and his ability to accomplish his 
will as effectually and perfectly in the spiritual 
world, as in the material. St. Paul declares a time 
shall come, when " the Saviour of the world" shall 
have succeeded in "putting down all rule, and all 
authority and power." The evident meaning of 
this is, that Christ shall continue to reign over the 
souls of men, in his mediatorial kingdom, until he 
shall have overpowered and destroyed all opposi- 
tion, enmity and sin, in the hearts of the human 
race. The reign of Jesus is a spiritual reign — the 
power he exercises, and which is to overcome all 
adverse powers, is a spiritual power — and this 
power he derives from God. Thus it is again 
evinced, that in the Deity, the Fountain from 



i Isa. xlv. 22—24. 



90 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



whence the Redeemer draws all his resources, there 
is the same infinite fulness, the same omnipotence 
in spiritual energy and ability, as is everywhere 
manifested in the physical creation. That the 
power of Jesus is derived from the Father, is mani- 
fest not only from the express declarations of Christ, 
but from the additional fact, that when Jesus shall 
have completely accomplished the object of his 
reign — when he shall have brought all souls into a 
willing and happy subjection to his peaceful gov- 
ernment — then he is to deliver up the kingdom into 
the hands of God — he himself is to become subject 
to the Father, in precisely the same manner that all 
men have become subject to him, and God shall 
become u all in all ! " 1 And that this most desirable 
and holy work of the restoration and reconciliation 
of all intelligences to their heavenly Father, shall 
be accomplished without spiritual or physical coer- 
cion, but by the voluntary action of the creature's 
will, is made certain by the declaration of the 
Psalmist — ■} Thy people shall be willing in the day 
of thy power" 2 

COMBINATION OF THE THREE FUNDAMENTAL ATTRI- 
BUTES. 

The argument drawn from a consideration of the 
three fundamental attributes of the Deity, in support 
of the ultimate salvation of all men, is susceptible 
of a brief and pointed summing up. It is impossible 
to sustain the position that the creation of God will 



i See 1 Cor. xv. 24—28. 



2 Ps. ex. 3. 



POWER OF GOD. 



91 



result In the endless perpetuity of sin and suffering, 
through any cause whatever, without a direct and 
broad impeachment and contradiction of one of the 
three attributes of Goodness, Wisdom or Power. 
To deny that he made all his intelligent creatures 
with an express design and determination to bestow 
upon them eventually, an inheritance of immortal 
purity and felicity, is most effectually to deny that 
he possesses infinite, impartial and endless Good- 
ness. If, however, it is acknowledged that he did 
thus make all for happiness, but at the same time it 
is insisted that he was not equal to the forming of 
plans, or the devising ways and means, by which 
this worthy and blessed purpose could be accom- 
plished, then the infinite perfection of his Wisdom 
is manifestly impeached and denied. Or if, lastly, 
it is contended he created all for the bliss of heaven, 
and originated and arranged plans perfectly compe- 
tent to the accomplishment of this godlike purpose, 
but that he cannot carry these plans into a success- 
ful execution, then the omnipotence of his Power is 
impugned and destroyed. Hence the doctrine of 
ceaseless misery is in violent and irreconcilable 
conflict with each of these attributes separately, and 
if possible, still more in conflict with their combined 
force and evidence ! It has not, therefore, the slight- 
est fragment to rest upon, under the clear light of 
that reason, which is the emanation of God within 
us. 

THE ARGUMENT IRRESISTIBLE. 

But how infinitely different is the opposite argu- 
ment, all luminous as it is with the undivided 

8* 



92 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



assent of every particle of intelligence in the human 
mind. It has already been seen, that each of these 
attributes of Jehovah, when considered separately, 
throws its whole weight, power and influence, into 
the support of the final result of God's creation in 
universal harmony, holiness and happiness. But 
when these attributes conjoin their testimony — 
when their combined power is thrown into the scale 
— when their voices utter their own natural tones, 
by which alone they can unite in sweet and thrilling 
harmony— they form an argument in behalf of the 
eventual salvation of all lapsed humanity, which is 
absolutely irrefutable and irresistible ! The attri- 
butes of Jehovah cannot violate their own nature, 
and neither, being infinite, can they manifest the 
slightest imperfection in their operations. Infinite 
Goodness could prompt only a state of impartial, 
boundless and immutable bliss, as the final condi- 
tion of all intelligences to whose creation it assented. 
Infinite Wisdom originated every plan, adopted 
every measure, and pointed out every means neces- 
sary to overcome all possible obstacles, and gratify 
in immeasurable fulness the prompting of Goodness. 
Infinite Power is abundantly and perfectly able to 
execute, in the most minute exactness, all the plans 
of Wisdom and all the desires of Goodness ! Here 
our feet are fixed on an immovable foundation for 
belief in the heaven-bom doctrine of Universal Sal- 
vation — a foundation formed by the undivided tes- 
timony of Reason, and corroborated in every partic- 
ular by the voice of Inspiration. It is confidently 
believed no art, no cunning, no wisdom, no subtlety 



POWER OF GOD. 



93 



of reasoning, no power of logic, possessed by man, 
can invalidate or weaken, in the slightest possible 
degree, this foundation, or remove it from those 
whose hopes are based upon it. 

" The Lord of all, himself through all diffused, 

Sustains, and is the life of all that lives. 

#*#**#*# 

* * * He feeds the sacred fire 

By which the mighty process is maintained ; 

"Who sleeps not, is not weary ; in whose sight 

Slow circling ages are as transient days ; 

"Whose work is without labor ; whose designs 

No flaw deforms, no difficulty thwarts ; 
"And whose Beneficence no change exhausts." 

The conclusion at which we have thus been ena- 
bled to arrive, is alike joyful and enrapturing to the 
hearts of all pure and good beings, and honorable 
and glorious to God. Sin finished and destroyed — 
error, alienation and enmity annihilated — a world 
redeemed and saved — an entire race reconciled to 
their common Father in heaven — a ransomed hu- 
manity purified from every pollution and imperfec- 
tion, joining their glad voices with the angelic 
hosts, in adoring and praising " Him who sitteth on 
the throne, and the Lamb forever ! " And let every 
soul baptized into the spirit of Christ, respond. 
Amen, even so, Lord God Almighty ! 

"Man, all-immortal, hail! 

Hail, Heaven, all-lavish of strange gifts to man ! 
Thine all the glory, man's the boundless bliss." 



ARGUMENT IV. 



THE JUSTICE OF GOD. 

" O'er guilt (how mountainous !) with outstretched arms 
Stern Justice, and soft-smiling Love, embrace, 
Supporting, in full majesty, thy throne." 

IMPORTANCE OF THE ATTRIBUTE OF JUSTICE. 

We have now arrived at an attribute of the Deity, 
which requires the candid and careful consideration 
of all who would obtain consistent and harmonious 
views of the character of the Most High. There is 
greater necessity, perhaps, for careful analysis, en- 
lightened discrimination, and logical deduction, in 
regard to the Justice of God, than any other attribute. 
Not that Justice is more important in its nature, its 
office, or its operations in the Divine councils, than 
the other attributes, is this thorough investigation 
requisite, but because the prevailing views respect- 
ing it, are more radically erroneous and perverted. 
The errors of men in relation to the Goodness, Wis- 
dom and Power of God, consist chiefly in limiting 
their energy and efficiency to a compass vastly too 
contracted for the movements of an infinite God. 
But the popular mistakes concerning the Justice of 
the Creator, extend to an entire perversion of this 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE JUSTICE OF GOD. 95 

attribute — to a total corruption of its every prompt- 
ing and movement — and to the drawing of conclu- 
sions and forming of doctrines from its existence, 
directly the reverse of those that truth and consis- 
tency legitimately demand. 

GOD JUST, AS WELL AS GOOD. 

In urging the arguments in favor of the salva- 
tion of a lapsed world, which flow naturally and 
with beautiful harmony from the Goodness, Wis- 
dom and Power of Jehovah, we are constantly met * 
with the assertion that we overlook, or neutralize, 
or destroy, the Justice of the Most High — that we 
forget God is just, as well as good ! It is very evi- 
dent that all the weight which this objection pos- 
sesses is drawn from the supposition that divine 
Justice acts in opposition to divine Goodness, and 
frustrates, or interrupts the great and glorious works 
which Goodness would otherwise have accom- 
plished. If this opposition is not considered as an 
element, yea, as the sole work and office of Justice, 
the objection loses all its strength. For if Justice 
harmonizes and cooperates with Goodness, then it 
presents no obstacle to the perfect and happy con- 
summation of every work and purpose which infi- 
nite Goodness can prompt. 

We have demonstrated in other Arguments, the 
manifest self-contradiction of a proposition or doc- 
trine, which rests upon the supposition of the antag- 
onism of any of the Divine attributes. It evidently 
belongs to the first elements of all true deduction 
from the character of the Great First Cause, to 



96 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



understand his attributes as existing and acting in 
unity and harmony — each fulfilling its necessary 
and glorious work with the abundant consent and 
cooperation of the remainder. To violate this self- 
evident consideration, is fatal to all just conceptions 
of God, to all consolatory views of the result of his 
works, and to all well-founded confidence in his 
holy name. 

ABHORRENT VIEWS OF JUSTICE. 

• It has been for the want of due reflection on these 
considerations, that men have done such rank injus- 
tice to the Justice of God — that they have fallen into 
errors the most gross, irrational and abhorrent, in 
regard to this pure and beautiful attribute. It has 
been for the want of this reflection, that the Good- 
ness and Mercy of the Deity have been shorn of 
their power and efficacy, and shrivelled into the 
smallest possible dimensions — vastly smaller, in- 
deed, than they exist in man's selfish and imperfect 
heart — while Justice has been magnified into an 
iron-visaged, heartless monstrosity — lording it over 
the rest of the attributes with tyrannical will, and 
forbidding the display of their power, or the gratifi- 
cation of their divine and blessed promptings — 
wielding a flaming sword of infinite vengeance in 
hot pursuit of frail and erring mortals — thirsting 
eagerly for the life-blood of God's perishing crea- 
tures — and making all heaven resound with its 
vociferous and relentless demands for every grain 
of the " pound of flesh," of poor humanity ! ! These 
crude and repulsive views of Justice disfigure and 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



97 



brutalize its nature in the eyes of those who enter- 
tain them; and so far from making this attribute 
the admiration and confidence of men, as it should 
be, cause it to be looked upon as the enemy of the 
world, and an object of utter detestation and abhor- 
rence. 

THE OFFICE OF JUSTICE. 

The particular office of Justice, the work it has 
to perform, and the occasion which calls for its dis- 
play, in the providence of God, are points on which 
there exists a wide diversity of opinion, as men's 
creeds and doctrines differ. According to the old 
system of pure Calvinism, God created the human 
race that he might have objects upon which he 
could display the glory of his divine attributes. To 
this general proposition there can be no possible 
objection — it is founded in reason and corroborated 
by Scripture. But such a display as Calvinism pre- 
sents, not only violates the basis of the proposition, 
but shocks every right feeling in the human soul. 
It teaches that, the more perfectly to display the 
glory of his attributes, the Deity voluntarily sub- 
jected all his earthly creatures to a state of sin and 
death. From this condition he determined to raise 
a selected portion to ineffable glory and happiness, 
" without any foresight of faith or good works, or 
perseverance in either of them, or any other thing 
in the creature, as conditions or causes moving him 
thereunto,"^ and this to make an infinite display 



* See Say brook Platform. 



98 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



of his Mercy or Grace. The remainder of mankind 
it was determined by their heavenly Father, should 
be plunged into a state of indescribable and endless 
wretchedness, as a punishment for their crimes — and 
this to display his infinite hatred of sin, and the 
inflexibility and glory of his Justice. 

Such were the opinions of John Calvin and his 
legitimate followers, in regard to the glorious dis- 
play of God's holy attributes. To say nothing of 
the manifest impiety of attributing such proceedings 
to "the God of Love," it is remarkable that the 
monstrous incongruity of these notions did not at 
once strike the most feeble intellect. To perpetuate 
sin forever — to compel his offspring to enter a state 
of misery, where they would be under an absolute 
necessity, whether physical or moral, to continue 
involved in iniquity through eternity — is a most 
singular method of manifesting hatred for sin. To 
the eye of human reason, (and this is the only rea- 
son of which we can have any conception,) there is 
no more effectual way in which Deity can mani- 
fest his hatred of sin, than to destroy sin, and save 
his feeble and dependent creatures from its power. 
And to this very natural and evident conclusion of 
reason, the Scriptures furnish a decided corrobo- 
ration in the words of John the Baptist, in ref- 
erence to Jesus Christ — " Behold the Lamb of God, 
which taketh away the sin of the world 1 ." To take 
away the sin of the world, is certainly a more deci- 
sive method of manifesting hatred of sin, than to 
endow it with immortality, and enable it to prey 
upon the children of men forever. 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



99 



Equally marvellous is this Calvinistic view of the 
display of God's Justice. For Jehovah first volun- 
tarily and deliberately to create man with an ex- 
press determination that he should be a sinner, so 
that it was entirely impossible that he should be 
anything but a sinner, and then to punish him with 
inexcruciable torments forever, because he is a sin- 
ner — and all this to display his Justice, as it is 
asserted — would be to act on principles the most 
contradictory and absurd that the human imagina- 
tion can conceive. If there is such a quality or 
faculty as reason, and man has the power of exer- 
cising it, even in the smallest degree, then it can 
safely be decided, that such measure, on the part of 
the Creator, so far from being a display of Justice, 
would be an exhibition of unmixed and utter cru- 
elty I And no assumption of prerogative on the 
part of the Deity, nor of any conceivable ability 
or freedom in man, can neutralize the infinite 
malignity of such a procedure. To give it the 
title of Justice, is to vilify and prostitute to the 
most diabolical purposes, the name of this holy 
principle ! To attribute it to the pure and righ- 
teous God, what less is it than blasphemy ? But it 
is an encouraging indication of increasing light and 
knowledge on religious subjects, that this system, so 
inconsistent with reason, and so utterly repugnant 
to all the better feelings of the human heart, is now 
rapidly passing away, and that few at this day can 
be found who give their assent in full to its awful 
deformities. 



9 



100 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



THE MORE PREVALENT VIEW OF JUSTICE. 

The more moderate and liberal system, now gen- 
erally prevailing, sometimes termed Arminianism, 
presents the Justice of the Deity, in a different 
light. This theory maintains that the Creator 
formed his earthly offspring, not only willing, but 
infinitely desirous, that they should all enter upon 
immortal purity and bliss. Nevertheless, for some 
reason, which has never been assigned, and which 
it is impossible for the human mind in its widest 
range to conceive, he placed their destiny entirely 
in their own keeping, and made it dependent on 
themselves, at least so far as direct and immediate 
causes are concerned, whether they should experi- 
ence the happiness of heaven, or fall into a dark 
abyss of ceaseless anguish. In order that they 
might exercise this fearful power, he made them 
capable of judging of right and wrong, good and 
evil, truth and error, and gave them a moral power 
or freedom, of choosing between them. At the 
same time he set before them the consequences of 
preferring the one or the other. If they prefer to 
believe the truth, to practise right and good, the 
joys of an eternal heaven shall be their reward ; but 
if they wilfully choose error and the practice of 
wrong and evil, the consequences will be an awful 
punishment in the world to come — and, moreover, 
as the sin they thus commit is against an infinite 
God, it becomes an infinite evil, and consequently 
the strict Justice of Jehovah demands that infinite 
or endless wretchedness should be inflicted as its 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



101 



punishment. While this system is much less repug- 
nant, in its outward appearance, to the holier sensi- 
bilities of the human soul, than the Calvinistic, yet 
it is no less in opposition to the clear decisions of 
reason, and the plain declarations of the word of 
God. 

THE CHOICE OF ENDLESS BLISS OR WOE. 

In the first place, in regard to this alleged choice 
of boundless bliss or boundless woe, a few sugges- 
tions are requisite. Although it may have the ap- 
pearance of a choice in the sight of some, at the first 
glance, yet it assuredly possesses none of the reali- 
ties of a choice. If the Deity ever placed such a 
choice before his creatures, (which is an utter im- 
possibility, from his very nature,) it could have 
been but a dark and awful formality. In the crea- 
tion of each human soul, our Maker as distinctly 
foresees what will be finally its condition, whether 
of happiness or woe, as he will behold it at its 
consummation. And in foreseeing that condition, 
he must have created the soul for it expressly, and 
for no other state. Hence it is an utter impossibility 
that a soul should arrive at any different state, as 
its final destination, than such as God foresaw at its 
creation. Such being the actual condition of things, 
it is self-evident the creature can have no choice 
that shall jeopardize, or hold in abeyance, or alter, 
in the slightest degree, the ultimate state which the 
Creator distinctly perceived would be the result of 
its existence. The creature may, and undoubtedly 
does, possess and exercise the power or liberty of 



102 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



choice, in regard to many of the means or condi- 
tions through which the final state is attained. But 
in regard to that final state itself, he can possess no 
choice or power to change it from that which was 
seen by the eye of Omniscience from eternity ! And 
to insist that God placed such a choice before his 
creatures, when he knew no change could be 
effected by it, is but virtually charging him with 
acting upon principles of uncalled for and mon- 
strous hypocrisy ! 

The supposition that the Creator entrusted his 
offspring with the choice of endless bliss or endless 
woe, will be found to be utterly baseless in every 
possible light in which it can be viewed. The Fa- 
ther of all spirits, is infinitely interested in the wel- 
fare of his offspring, desires only their everlasting 
good, and brings, as it is reasonable to suppose, all 
the energies and powers of his nature into requisi- 
tion, to guard them from every conceivable expo- 
sure to ceaseless ruin. In this state of things, every 
true prompting of man's intellect forbids his harbor- 
ing the supposition that God would put into the 
hands of his creatures, frail, erring, ignorant, blind 
and sinful, as he well knew they were, a power, a 
responsibility, so inconceivably weighty and mo- 
mentous — so absolutely infinite in its consequences, 
as the decision of their endless destiny. And the 
monstrous absurdity of the supposition is magnified 
in a boundless degree, when it is considered that 
he distinctly saw, if he gave them this choice, it 
would prove the everlasting destruction of countless 
millions ! 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 103 
NO SUCH CHOICE GIVEN TO MAN. 

But facts prove that such a choice has never been 
placed before man. The Bible is silent on the sub- 
ject. In no part is there the slightest intimation or 
hint, that a choice of this description is in his power 
or his reach. The word of God calls upon him to 
make choice of the course he will pursue on a great 
variety of subjects, but nowhere does it require him 
to choose whether he shall be happy or miserable 
through eternity. The presenting of such a choice 
would be an absurdity. Who would choose to be- 
come forever wretched, when they could choose to 
be endlessly happy ? 

Not only is the Bible silent as to any choice of 
this description, but no such choice — no alternative 
of this nature, has ever, in fact, been placed before 
all mankind. Without reference to infants, idiots, 
and the insane, who are manifestly incapable of 
making any intelligent choice, have there not been 
millions of heathen, in all ages, who have never 
heard of God, or Christ, or the gospel, and who 
have never had the choice of immortal joy, or end- 
less woe presented them? It is untrue, then, of 
far the greater part of mankind, that they have ever 
had an opportunity of making choice in the momen- 
tous matter of their final condition. What will be 
their doom ? To say that they will be plunged into 
unending tortures, for not complying with terms of 
which they had no knowledge, and with which, 
consequently, they could not possibly comply, is to 
charge their Parent in heaven with infinite injustice 
9* 



104 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



and cruelty! To contend, upon the other hand, 
that all to whom the offers of the gospel have 
never been made, will be allowed to enter upon 
eternal bliss, violates the fundamental principles of 
the system of doctrines we are now examining, be- 
sides charging partiality on the Deity. It is the 
grand distinguishing point of the popular theology 
of the present day, that salvation can never be 
obtained except through faith in Jesus Christ, exer- 
cised in this life. How, then, can the heathen, 
infants, idiots and the insane, be saved ? If they can 
be saved without this exercise of faith in the present 
world, this main pillar of popular theology falls ; for 
then any and every other being who does not be- 
lieve on Christ in this life, can also be saved. God 
acts upon the same general principles in his deal- 
ings with all his creatures. Besides, if those who 
have lived and died in unavoidable ignorance of the 
religion of the Saviour, are saved in the immortal 
world, and any of those to whom that religion has 
been preached, are forever lost, then the proclama- 
tion of the gospel becomes a misfortune — an abso- 
lute evil to a portion of mankind. Who would not 
prefer to be plunged through life in the darkest hea- 
thenism, or to die in infancy, or pass their earthly 
existence in idiocy or insanity, and be positively cer- 
tain of an eternity of happiness, than to live to ma- 
turity in possession of all the faculties of the soul, 
under the very droppings of the Christian sanctu- 
ary, with even the remotest liability of having this 
high privilege prove the source of endless pain? 
And who, especially, would voluntarily become 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



105 



exposed to this infinite danger, when it is remem- 
bered how frail human nature is, and how liable 
the most enlightened are, under circumstances of 
the highest advantage, to fall into temptation and 
sin! A choice on this subject would simply be 
between a certainty and an uncertainty. And more- 
over, what is it but charging infinite partiality upon 
the Creator, to insist that while he has created the 
greater part of his offspring under those circum- 
stances of ignorance, whereby their final happiness 
is perfectly secure, beyond the reach of failure, he 
has ordained that the remainder, to whom the gos- 
pel has been proclaimed, should run a hazard so 
fearful and perilous as an exposure to ceaseless 
wretchedness 1 

SIN NOT AN INFINITE EVIL. 

The predicate that sin, being committed against 
an infinite God, is an infinite evil, and justly de- 
mands an infinite or endless punishment, may here 
receive a brief consideration. The idea upon which 
this position is based, that the higher the personage 
or power against whom sin is committed, the deeper 
the enormity of the guilt, is manifestly imperfect. 
If this were a true principle, then to steal a pin from 
a monarch, would involve as great an amount of 
moral guilt, as to rob a common personage of a for- 
tune. Or, more abhorrent still, a man who should 
steal a pin from a monarch, would commit even a 
greater crime, than one who should defraud a lone 
widow and dependent orphans of all their posses- 
sions, and leave them to perish with starvation! 



106 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



And upon the same principle, he who should do the 
smallest deed of kindness to the highest and weal- 
thiest potentate of earth, would be vastly more de- 
serving of reward from God and man, than though 
he were to rescue a famishing family from utter 
destitution. This view is a manifest violation of 
every just sense of right and wrong. All true con- 
ceptions of justice decide that the man who robs a 
poor widow and her helpless children of their scanty 
resources, is guilty of a sin incalculably greater 
than he who should rob a man of wealth, a prince, 
or a potentate, of the same, or even a much larger 
amount. Indeed, the ratio of guilt increases in the 
contrary direction, in cases of this description, from 
that laid down in the proposition under considera- 
tion. The more humble and ignorant, the more 
poor and wretched an individual is, the greater is 
the sinfulness of defrauding or injuring him, or sin- 
ning in any manner against his welfare. 

In any case of wrong doing, the amount of guilt 
depends upon the intentions of the actor, and the 
degree of moral light under which the crime is com- 
mitted. An insane person, or an idiot, is not held 
responsible for his actions, for the reason that his 
mind is darkened to all moral light and understand- 
ing, and his intentions being beyond his control, 
cannot be considered as involving either wrong or 
right. And in the same degree that a man is de- 
prived of moral light, whereby he can distinguish 
right from wrong, to the same extent is the guilt 
of his crimes decreased. The criminality of a deed 
is to be decided upon the motives of its author, 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



107 



rather than upon the character or consequences of 
the action itself. A man may intend to commit a 
great evil by an outward act of a trivial nature — or 
he may be deterred from an actual commission of 
the outward act, by the intervention of some unfore- 
seen occurrence — yet, cherishing the wicked inten- 
tion, as he did, is not his guilt as great, as though 
he had succeeded in carrying his purpose into exe- 
cution 1 At least, cherishing such a criminal inten- 
tion, though unable to succeed in accomplishing it, 
is he not much more guilty, than one who should 
design little or no actual wrong, and yet do a deed 
that should result in great injury? If, then, it is 
the motive, the intention that urges to action, which 
decides the degree of guilt in any given crime, then 
it is manifestly inconsistent to undertake to weigh 
its heinousness by the station or rank of the person- 
age against whom it is committed. But even ad- 
mitting that the enormity of sin increases, in an 
exact ratio with the dignity of the power whose law 
is violated, still the motives of the actor cannot be 
thrown aside, without the most manifest disregard 
of Justice. These motives must be taken into the 
account, and magnify or decrease the amount of 
guilt. And before a shadow of probability can be 
shown that man can commit an infinite sin, it must 
be made evident that he was urged to it by an infi- 
nite motive, or a determination to do a deed which 
should produce an infinite evil — which is a manifest 
self-contradiction and impossibility. 



108 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



DESTROYS DEGREES IN GUILT. 

The idea that the sins of men are infinite evils, is 
absurdly erroneous in another respect, viz., it de- 
stroys all degrees in guilt, and attributes to the most 
frivolous species of wickedness, an amount of crim- 
inality that cannot be surpassed by the blackest 
deeds of rapine and blood, that man or devils could 
commit. If each sin is an infinite evil, then each 
sin is of the same heinousness, and should receive 
the same punishment. Moreover, if this is the prin- 
ciple on which God administers his government, 
it is a principle which should become incorporated 
into human governments. Hence the judge should 
pass the same sentence upon all criminals ; for the 
man who steals a loaf of bread, to stay the hunger 
of his starving children, is equally guilty with the 
wretch who fires his neighbor's house, or kills his 
brother man, and should receive a punishment of 
the same nature and severity. Should we not be- 
ware of attributing to the all- wise God, a principle 
of action so rankly unjust and imperfect, that even 
man shrinks from it with utter abhorrence? And, 
besides, what mean those passages scattered through- 
out the Bible, which emphatically declare that the 
punishment of the wicked shall be according to 
their deeds'? 

To defraud a brother man to the amount of one 
farthing, is to violate the just law of heaven, and to 
sin against God. According to the hypothesis under 
consideration, this act is an infinite sin, an infinite 
evil — i. e., it involves an amount of guilt that is lit- 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



109 



erally and absolutely boundless and endless. And 
as no guilt can exceed infinite guilt, then though a 
man were to riot in every species of wickedness 
through his whole life, and through eternity — yea, 
were all men, and all angels, and Jehovah himself, 
(may Heaven pardon the thought !) to devote all 
their energies to the commission of crime, the whole 
weight of their combined guilt could not exceed 
the guilt of him, who defrauds his neighbor of a 
farthing, either in duration or heinousness — be- 
cause it could not all amount to more than an infi- 
nite sin ! I Such a violation of reason, sense and 
justice, is repelled at once by the mind, and need 
not be dwelt upon for a moment. A stream cannot 
rise higher than its fountain — an effect cannot ex- 
ceed its cause. Man being himself finite in his 
nature and capabilities, his deeds must necessarily 
be of a corresponding character. He can no more 
do an infinite action, either good or evil, than he 
can create a universe. The Deity alone being infi- 
nite, in nature and capability, can alone be the 
author of actions which have infinite results. 

CONSEQUENCES OF ALLOWING SIN TO BE INFINITE. 

Were it to be allowed that sin is indeed an infi- 
nite evil, then the Justice of God could truly demand 
an infinite or endless punishment. But this would 
involve consequences equally and terribly disas- 
trous to all humanity, without exception. All men 
have sinned — hence, on this hypothesis, all have 
committed infinite evils, all are consequently de- 
serving infinite punishment, and the righteous 



110 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



demands of God's Justice can never be satisfied, 
without the infliction of that punishment. The 
proposition, therefore, carried out to its legitimate 
conclusion, plunges the entire race of man into end- 
less despair. 

To avoid this startling result of such a course of 
reasoning, it is in vain to resort to the prevalent 
doctrine of the atonement — that Jesus Christ bore in 
his own person the punishment due for the sins of 
the world — thus satisfying the demands of God's 
infinite Justice, and screening the sinner from that 
endless pain to which he was exposed. This only 
involves the whole subject in greater difficulties, 
and, as might be anticipated when error is brought 
to the support of error, produces conclusions still 
more in contradiction to reason and justice. 

JUSTICE NOT SATISFIED WITH AN INNOCENT VICTIM. 

If the sinner by his crimes, has justly merited a 
certain punishment, then Justice can never be satis- 
fied, until that punishment is inflicted. To allow 
the sinner to escape entirely, and to inflict those 
stripes which he alone deserved, upon a being who 
was perfectly innocent and holy, would be adding 
the most repulsive weakness and cruelty to the 
rankest injustice. The sinner has committed a cer- 
tain amount of wrong. How can that wrong be 
remedied, or how can the breach which has thus 
been made, be in any manner healed, by inflicting 
the same amount of wrong or evil, upon another 
and an innocent personage? What good can be 



JUSTICE OF GOD. Ill 

accomplished to God or man. or how can pure and 
even-handed Justice be in any manner satisfied, by 
this new enactment of evil upon the innocent ? Is 
it to be supposed that infinite Justice is a blind 
passion in the Deity, raging and thirsting for 
blood, blood, BLOOD ! — and that, like the ferocious 
beast, it eagerly seizes and indiscriminately devours 
whatever victim is thrown within its voracious 
clutch, good or bad, innocent or guilty — caring for 
nothing but to satiate its sanguinary appetite ? God 
forbid ! Every pure emotion in the human soul 
revolts at such a conception of Justice. How, then, 
can God's Justice accept of, and be satisfied with 
the punishment of the innocent in place of the 
guilty? Is there no distinction between innocence 
and guilt 1 — are they both held in the same light by 
Justice? If not, how can its claims be equally as 
well satisfied with the sacrifice of the one as the 
other ? If it demands the punishment of the guilty, 
how can its demands be cancelled by the sufferings 
of the guiltless? Justice requires punishment for 
the liquidation of its claims; but injury inflicted on 
the innocent, is not punishment — it is simply unde- 
served pain and torture. What return can such 
tortures make to the dues of Justice ? The willing- 
ness of the innocent to suffer in place of the guilty, 
alters not the features of the case in the slightest 
degree, so far as pure Justice is concerned. Justice 
has no demand, no claim against an innocent being 
— there is nothing in such a being — nothing that 
such a being can do, or suffer to be done — that can 
give Justice that which it demands of the sinner, 
10 



112 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



viz. j punishment — in other words, the suffering of 
the guilty. So far from the principles of Justice 
being satisfied with the sufferings of innocence, they 
are manifestly and rankly violated by it. The 
office and duty of Justice, among other things, is to 
reward innocence, and protect it from injury. And 
it would be a violation of its office, and a perversion 
of its nature, to become the voluntary injurer of an 
innocent and meritorious being — especially thus to 
injure such an one because some wicked being had 
committed wrong. Were justice to adopt such an 
expedient, under any conceivable circumstances, it 
would commit a greater wrong than the sin which 
it pretends thus to punish ! 1 

EFFECT OF ALLOWING THE COMMON VIEW OF THE 
ATONEMENT. 

Were it to be allowed that Christ actually bore 
the punishment due for the sins of all mankind, and 
that divine Justice permitted its claims to be satis- 
fied in this manner, so far from strengthening the 
theory in support of which this hypothesis is ad- 
vanced, it Would entirely overthrow it. If Justice 
has had its claims for the sins of all mankind satis- 
fied by the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, 
(which is the prevalent and popular theory of the 

1 The reader will understand that these remarks have no bearing 
against the innocent and meritorious voluntarily laboring and en- 
during sufferings, if need be, to promote the welfare of the guilty. 
This is praiseworthy, and even demanded in many cases. But this 
is something very different from enduring that punishment which is 
alone due the guilty. 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



113 



Atonement at the present day,) then it manifestly 
can have no demand against the sinner — and the 
whole of sinful humanity, must escape all punish- 
ment, both in this world, and in the future exist- 
ence. There can be no avoiding this conclusion, in 
the clear light of reason, upon the premises laid 
down. It is in vain to urge that the sinner must 
comply with certain terms, before he can be bene- 
fited by this Atonement. If the price has been paid 
by the Redeemer — if the ransom has already been 
given — by which the sins of all mankind have been 
atoned for, and the demands of Justice cancelled — 
then the matter is fully settled, and cannot be un- 
settled, nor depend upon any contingencies. Christ 
has fulfilled all the terms that Justice can lay down 
in the premises, and it cannot, therefore, have any 
terms for the sinner. To contend that after Christ 
has complied with the terms which Justice exacts 
of the sinner, and after he has perfectly cancelled 
every claim and demand for his punishment, Jus- 
tice still holds the same demands against the sinner, 
and in failure of complying with certain terms, will 
inflict the same infinite punishment upon him, that 
it would if Christ had never been punished in his 
stead, is to violate all rules of logic, all deductions 
of reason, all sense of right, and to represent the 
Justice of God in a light the most abhorrent and 
repulsive ! Such a theory makes Justice a dark 
principle of infinite cruelty. It first punishes the 
innocent Son of God in the place of the sinner, and 
in full for all that it has any right to demand of 
the sinner, and then, infinitely unsatisfied with 



114 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



this infinite satisfaction, it demands a double pay- 
ment, and pours out torment unutterable and un- 
ending upon the sinner himself! Horror of horrors ! 
this the Justice of God ! The soul of the upright 
man shrinks from it in dread disgust — the mind 
rejects it, as an awful violation of the first princi- 
ples of reason ! Imperfect as humanity is, there 
has never been a good man in existence who would 
be guilty of such proceedings in his dealings with 
his fellow-beings — not one, who would not declare 
them, if manifested in human affairs, as basely un- 
just and cruel. And yet 

" Shall the vile race of flesh and blood 
Contend with their Creator, God ? 
Shall mortal worms presume to be 
More holy, wise, or just than he ? " 

The view of divine Justice which has been 
above noticed, it must be seen, violates all human 
conceptions of right and wrong. It makes God's 
Justice an infinite compound of weakness and cru- 
elty — Weakness in allowing a part of mankind to 
escape all punishment due their sins — Cruelty in 
punishing the remainder forever, for the sins of 
this short life ; and this too, after Christ has already 
borne all the punishment, and satisfied all the de- 
mands, that Justice could exact of the sinner. 

JUSTICE NOT RETALIATION OR REVENGE. 

The great errors into which religionists have 
fallen, on this subject, originate in false conceptions 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



115 



of the nature and office of the Justice of the Most 
High. Many seem to view Justice as simply a 
species of retaliation — a rendering of evil for evil. 
The sinner has become guilty of committing a cer- 
tain amount of evil; and Justice, it is supposed, 
consists in merely inflicting on the sinner a similar, 
or greater amount of evil, in return — for no other 
reason but to injure and torment him, because he 
has injured or tormented some one else. This is 
the prevalent view of the nature of God's Justice — 
and it is, alas ! too generally the principle upon 
which Justice is administered among men. But 
even this poor, imperfect, and wicked rule, will not 
sustain the doctrine of an eternity of punishment. 
When an injury has been inflicted by man on his 
brother man, all that this savage principle can with 
the least shadow of consistency demand, is that 
there shall be an equal amount of injury inflicted 
on the guilty one. Hence, as it is impossible for 
man to commit but a limited degree of evil on his 
fellow-being, to pour out an unlimited, an eternal 
degree of evil upon him in return, would be a man- 
ifest and infinite violation of even this wretched 
system of retaliation. 

That the principle of retaliation — this rendering 
of evil for evil, blow for blow, blood for blood — 
(which is no higher rule of action than that which 
prevails in the brute creation) — is not a principle 
that enters into the Justice of God, is evident from 
the fact, that it is in direct violation of both the letter 
and spirit of the teachings of Jesus Christ. In the 
beautiful and instructive Sermon on the Mount, the 
10* 



116 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



Saviour spake as follows : " Ye have heard that it 
hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a 
tooth — [precisely the idea, and all the idea, that 
many have of Justice] — but I say unto you, that ye 
resist not evil" — i. e., that ye shall not retaliate for 
wrong, by doing a similar wrong. This would not 
be justice , but revenge. Is there not a distinction 
between these two principles ? — are justice and re- 
venge to be confounded together? If not, what is 
the distinction between them? This leads to the 
consideration of another inquiry of great impor- 
tance : — 

THE NATURE OF JUSTICE. 

What is Justice? As a general answer. Justice 
is the doing of right to all parties concerned, in 
every given transaction. And what is the doing of 
right ? It is the doing of good — that kind of good 
which the peculiar circumstances of the parties re- 
quire, for mutual and general benefit. In other 
words, Justice is the administering such treatment 
to every individual as his condition demands, in the 
sight of pure Goodness. In a more restricted, yet a 
still proper sense, as applicable to moral conduct, 
Justice is the remedy for wrong committed, and the 
encouragement to all right doing. Such being 
plainly the nature of Justice, it will be seen that it 
is solely a co-worker with exalted and perfect Good- 
ness, and is not a destructive, but a remedial, princi- 
ple. It has none of the ingredients of evil inter- 
mixed in its nature. And to attribute to it any 
office of an evil or destructive character, or any 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



117 



work in opposition to the dictates of enlightened 
Goodness, is plainly to violate its fundamental prin- 
ciples. 

THE OFFICE OF JUSTICE REMEDIAL. 

Let it be repeated, Justice is the remedial agent 
of Goodness, in all cases of wrong doing. When a 
deed of wickedness has been committed, Goodness 
— that principle which seeks the welfare of all — has 
been violated; and it is the first dictate of Good- 
ness that this violence should be remedied, and 
things be restored to their former condition of har- 
mony. To produce this desirable restoration, is the 
work of Justice. How can it be done ? Not sim- 
ply by injuring the guilty one — not by inflicting 
blow for blow — not by spilling his blood in return 
for the blood he may have spilled of another. This 
will fulfil the law of retaliation — it will gratify the 
principle of revenge — but it will not remedy the evil 
that has been inflicted, in the slightest degree; 
neither will it restore the parties to their former con- 
dition of reconciliation, nor bring back that equili- 
brium in the moral elements, which was violated in 
the wicked action. Hence a process of this descrip- 
tion cannot be called the proceedings of Justice. 
The principle of Justice, rightly understood, can 
have little or nothing to do with it. What then, is 
the work of Justice in a given case of wickedness, 
of any description ? It evidently is to heal, remedy, 
restore — to repair the breach which has been made. 
And this desirable work can be accomplished, not 
by committing the same evil upon the guilty, that 



118 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



the guilty inflicted on the innocent, but by pursuing 
a process, which shall bring the offender to see, and 
feel, and deplore his guilt — that shall eradicate from 
his heart those wicked impulses and false principles, 
which urged him to commit his sinful deeds — and 
that shall bring about a sweet and perfect reconcili- 
ation between the injurer and the injured, thus blot- 
ting out forever, the wrong committed. So far as 
the applying of penal punishments — the infliction 
of pains and penalties — are necessary to produce 
this result — they are right and good, as well as sal- 
utary by way of example and warning to deter 
others from sin — and so far they form a part of the 
means and resources of Justice. But no farther. 
Justice itself, as peremptorily as Mercy, forbids that 
any pain should be inflicted even upon the guilty, 
which cannot be productive of good. 

These remarks apply with much greater force to 
the Justice of God, than the justice of man — inas- 
much as this principle is immeasurably more pure 
and perfect in the Creator, than in the creature. 
The Justice of the Most High is an infinitely holy 
and lovely attribute. It has not the contamination 
of hatred, revenge, or any other earthly imperfec- 
tion — and possesses no disposition to destroy, tor- 
ture, or injure any created thing ; but harmonizing 
in its purposes with all the other attributes of the 
Deity, its only object is to do good. The happiness 
of all created intelligences depends upon their 
union and harmony with the great Jehovah, or with 
the principles of Truth, Holiness, Equity, Good- 
ness, Mercy, and all the attributes that make up 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



119 



his perfect nature. Sin of any description, and in 
any being, violates this harmony, and necessarily 
brings wretchedness into the soul that commits it. 
In the councils of God, it has been given to Justice, 
as its office and work, in every case of sin, to 
restore this necessary and desirable harmony, which 
has been thus interrupted, and to encourage a per- 
severance therein. Let the reader start not at the 
declaration that it is the office of Justice to dis- 
charge this duty of restoration and encouragement 
towards all sinners. Are not all men the offspring 
of God? 1 Does not his love, his "great," his in- 
finite love, extend to all ? — not only to the righteous, 
but also to the sinful and depraved? 2 Is he not 
willing and desirous that all shall repent and be 
restored from sin to holiness? 3 

WHAT MEASURES WILL JUSTICE PURSUE. 

It being, then, the province of Justice, to enter 
upon a course of treatment with every sinful soul, 
to restore it to harmony with God, what description 
of proceeding shall we attribute to it? It cannot 
be supposed that Justice would take such measures 
as would totally defeat its own purposes. And yet 
to inflict upon the sinner a punishment which will 
be endless in duration, would be literally and effect- 
ually to thwart the very object for which its chas- 
tisements were designed. This object, as we have 
seen, is to heal, to unite, to harmonize the sinful 

1 See Acts xvii. 28. 2 Eph. ii. 1-5 ; Kom. v. 8 ; 1 Tim. i. 15. 
3 2 Pet. hi. 9. 



120 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



soul with its Creator, and thus restore the violated 
principles of Right and Good. How can this be 
done by an eternal series of tortures ? Can endless 
woundings ever heal a sin-sick soul? Can plung- 
ing the spirit into a deep and dark abyss of cease- 
less sin, restore that spirit to spiritual life and holi- 
ness? Can a soul involved in everlasting agony 
and discord, where the saving light of truth can 
never penetrate, and the sweet, attractive voice of 
love can never be heard, be brought into harmony 
and concord with the blessed Spirit of the Eternal ? 
If these inquiries must be answered in the negative, 
then the Justice of God can never adopt such meas- 
ures, nor any of like description. Were it to do so, 
it would disrobe itself of its pure and iovely char- 
acter of Justice, and, being engaged in a work 
which would be of no avail, no benefit, no good, to 
God, angels, or men, would become nothing less 
than an instrument of deliberate and infinite retail- 
ation and revenge ! 

The attempt, therefore, to prove an eternity of 
punishment, from the Justice of God, is futile in the 
extreme. The whole influence of this divine attri- 
bute is in the opposite "direction, and yields a pow- 
erful support to the elevating and enrapturing doc- 
trine of Universal Reconciliation. So far as good 
can come from the infliction of pains, whether of 
body or soul — so far as the administration of stripes 
is necessary to cause the sinner to break off from 
his transgressions and bring him to reflection, re- 
pentance and purity of heart — so far and so long 
will Justice inflict punishment for the accomplish- 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



121 



ment of these results. The literal meaning of the 
word chastisement, or punishment, strongly corrobo- 
rates this position. According to Webster, it signi- 
fies " to inflict pain, for the purpose of punishing 
an offender, and recalling him to his duty — to cor- 
rect; to purify by expunging faults." That the 
chastisements demanded by infinite Justice, are for 
this purpose only, and that they will produce this 
influence, is abundantly demonstrated by the lan- 
guage of inspiration — "And ye have forgotten the 
exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto chil- 
dren, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the 
Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him : for 
whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, 1 and scourg- 
eth every son whom he receiveth. # * # * Fur- 
thermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which 
corrected us, and we gave them reverence : shall we 
not much rather be in subjection unto the Father 
of spirits, and live ? For they verily for a few days 
chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for 
our profit, that we might become partakers of his 
holiness. Now, no chastening for the present seem- 
eth to be joyous, but grievous : nevertheless, after- 
ward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness 
unto them which are exercised thereby." It is for 
the object here set forth, and for no other, that 
Justice demands the infliction of punishment upon 
the sinner. 

1 Whom does the Lord love ? The whole world— the sinful and 
the righteous — "God so loved the world," etc. See John iii. 16, 17. 



122 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



god's ATTRIBUTES MUST ALL BE SATISFIED. 

Reason assures us that in order to the perfect 
harmony of the divine councils, and the perfect 
happiness of the Deity, all his attributes must be 
infinitely satisfied — i. e., each must accomplish its 
entire work, and fulfil its whole office, and gratify 
its full desire, in regard to every being and object 
within the field of its operations. This gratification 
his Truth can never experience, if Error, its oppo- 
site, is perpetuated forever — nor Holiness, if Sin is 
continued in being eternally — nor Goodness, if Evil 
will never cease — nor Justice, if wrong remains 
unremedied as long as God shall exist — nor Mercy, 
if wretchedness is prolonged to endless time. For 
in this case, there would be works of the most vital 
importance unaccomplished, and the serenity and 
peace of the Most High would be forever inter- 
rupted by the infinite yearnings of unsatisfied attri- 
butes. To the temjiorary existence of error, sin, evil, 
etc., eventuating in, and being promotive of, still 
higher degrees of truth, holiness and happiness than 
could otherwise be attained, the attributes can be 
perfectly reconciled, as is self-evident — but not to 
an everlasting existence of the same. These sug- 
gestions apply especially, and with their full force, 
to the attribute of Justice. The Justice of God 
must be amply satisfied in all its demands, require- 
ments, and desires. If it does not experience this 
satisfaction, then infinite injustice, which is but infi- 
nite wrong, will exist forever in the universe of Je- 
hovah — the bare supposition of which would be an 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



123 



impeachment of every attribute in the Godhead. 
And how can the demands of God's Justice be sat- 
isfied 1 Not by the infliction of pains and tortures, 
as an end — i. e., forever. No principle, human or 
divine, can be satisfied with this, but the ferocious 
passions of retaliation and revenge. Even if inflic- 
tions of endless woe could gratify Justice, the de- 
mands of that attribute would be forever unsatisfied, 
because it could never receive the full amount of 
all it requires. Divine Justice cannot be satisfied by 
outpourings of wretchedness, but only by producing 
an influence in the souls of those subjected to its 
dealings, corresponding with its own nature — viz.. 
emotions that shall be characterized by justice, 
truth and goodness. To produce this influence, is 
the object of all its exertions, all its operations, and 
all its inflictions of chastisement. And when such 
an influence shall be wrought in every created soul 
that has been contaminated by sin — and not until 
then — will the demands of Justice be satisfied, and 
this holy attribute finish its work upon sinners ! 

THE WHOLE FIELD OF JUSTICE CONSIDERED. 

The Justice of God, to be properly understood in 
all its bearings, should not be viewed and estimated, 
solely by its operations in this world, or in the life 
to come. Its connection with humanity dates back 
to an earlier era. And it is in consequence of fail- 
ing to behold it in a more enlarged light, that so 
many have erred respecting it. Survey this attri- 
bute in the whole circle of its operations with man- 
11 



124 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



kind, and so far from affording any countenance to 
the sotil chilling sentiment of endless sinning and 
woe, it utterly annihilates it, and throws its entire 
influence in behalf of " the restitution of all things." 

It must be acknowledged, as one of the simplest 
deductions of logic, that when an independent 
being, entirely free from any outward control or 
constraint, acting solely upon the volition of his 
own will, deliberately and knowingly enters upon 
any given action, or series of actions, for his own 
gratification, with a perfect knowledge and fore- 
sight of all the ultimate consequences which will 
ensue therefrom, he alone is accountable for the 
results, and must be estimated as good or evil, just 
or unjust, according to the nature of the results. It 
is not improper that our contemplations of the Deity, 
should be under the light of this self-evident propo- 
sition. That God, in the creation of the human 
race, was self-moved — that he was under no com- 
pulsion, or necessity, or restraint, but acted volun- 
tarily, according to his own free will and pleasure 
— will be universally admitted. That in thus cre- 
ating, he saw distinctly the actual and final condition 
into which every member of the family of man, 
would at length arrive, as the result of their being, 
through whatever changes, or by whatever causes 
or influences, this condition will be reached — and 
that the Creator, with man's final condition thus 
clearly before him, could create each being, or allow 
to remain in nonentity, as he pleased — is also a 
position that carries its own demonstration with it. 
It will likewise be admitted, that at the point of 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



125 



time in past eternity, when Jehovah determined 
upon the creation of mankind, infinite Justice was 
then, as now, one of his primal attributes, and that 
then as now, it was the antipodes of wrong and 
cruelty, and the great advocate of right and equity. 
This is the time, therefore — when the whole being, 
the entire existence, and the everlasting destiny of 
man was in agitation and about to be determined — 
and these the circumstances under which to view 
the influence and demands of infinite Justice, in 
regard to the existence of the human race. If it 
would be right for an independent God, acting vol- 
untarily and solely according to his own pleasure, 
to create myriads of his children, and himself sub- 
ject them to vanity or sin, 1 clearly foreseeing, their 
nature and circumstances would be such that their 
existence would result in an eternal bondage to sin, 
evil and woe, — then infinite Justice would have 
given its full, unqualified approbation to the act. 
But if such an exercise of Infinite Power upon un- 
conscious, helpless beings, whose voice was not 
heard in the matter, who had not even the poor 
privilege of choice given them, would be wrong, 
manifestly, awfully wrong, as it would, if we can 
form any conception of the nature of wrong, then, 
to say nothing of the attributes of Goodness and 
Mercy, the voice of Justice would be heard in 
heaven, forbidding, in unqualified terms, the work 
of man's creation. "No! no!" we may believe 
would be the language of this holy attribute, "if 



1 See Rom. viii. 20. 



126 ARGUMENTS FROM THE 

the beings whose creation is now in contemplation, 
cannot be ushered into life, without their existence 
resulting in a destiny so horrid, or without even 
running a hazard so awful, then allow them to re- 
main in the unconscious sleep of nonentity ! " 

THE CLAIMS OF INFINITE JUSTICE. 

Created as they were, by a higher, an irresistible 
Power, which saw the end from the beginning, 
without any volition, choice or consent of their own, 
the attribute of Justice, under the prompting of its 
own eternal principles of rectitude, equity and right, 
puts in an infinite claim, that the human race shall 
not, either collectively or individually, become losers, 
by their existence. Hence were one member of hu- 
manity to be interminably miserable, it would be 
at an expense of the eternal violation of Justice. 
This attribute must be blotted from the nature 
of Jehovah, and its voice forever hushed in the 
councils of heaven, before such an event could be 
allowed to transpire ! 

Let it be repeated, this is the point of time — when 
the original design was formed, and the plan fixed 
upon in the councils of God, for the creation of 
mankind — to consider the claims of infinite Justice 
in regard to man. These claims include the end, 
the final state of humanity, as well as the com- 
mencement and intermediate stages of existence. 
There are many claims which Justice can have 
upon men, at subsequent periods of their existence 
— claims growing out of their endowment with 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



127 



moral freedom — claims for the desecration of the 
power and liberty bestowed upon them, to purposes 
of evil and sin — claims which demand the infliction 
of severe chastisements and long continued punish- 
ments, for wilful wrong-doing — yet reason forbids 
the supposition that any claim of this description 
can reach to the demanding of the infliction of end- 
less pains. This would make God's Justice self- 
contradictory — would bring its claims in conflict 
with each other — would make a secondary claim, 
founded on the imperfections of a creature whom 
God voluntarily "made subject to vanity," to over- 
balance and outreach the original claim which 
Justice had, not on the creature, but on Deity him- 
self, that the existence of the creature, conferred as 
it was, should not subject it to everlasting loss. 
Simple consistency calls for the belief that no sub- 
sequent claim of Justice upon man, can deny or 
thwart its original claim, registered in the councils 
of heaven, that beings ushered into life, with no 
voluntary choice or action of their own, shall not 
suffer endless pain by that existence. And the truth 
of this position is especially manifest, when it is 
considered that the original claim was made with 
all the subsequent actions and circumstances of each 
being clearly and distinctly in view. 

The secondary claims of God's Justice for pun- 
ishments to be inflicted on man, so far from being 
in contradiction to its original claim upon Jehovah 
that the creature shall not suffer endless loss by its 
creation, are confirmatory of that claim, and de- 
signed expressly to secure its entire fulfilment. 



128 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



Justice demands that the sinner shall be adequately 
punished for his wickedness, because such punish- 
ment will be for his benefit — will have a tendency, 
in combination with other and higher influences, to 
turn him from his evil ways, and bring him into that 
state of righteousness and purity, which is indispen- 
sable to his everlasting well-being. Thus punish- 
ments inflicted under these secondary claims of Jus- 
tice, but tend to bring the creature up to that condi- 
tion of happiness which is requisite to the perfect 
fulfilment of its original claim for his final bliss ! 

REASONS FOR MAN'S SUBJECTION TO VANITY. 

The reasons which moved the Deity to create his 
earthly offspring 11 subject to vanity," and exposed 
to those necessary chastisements which Justice 
rightfully demands, are mostly beyond our present 
comprehension. Still there are some satisfactory 
glimpses to be obtained on this point. It seems to 
be a fixed and universal order of Providence, so far 
as our knowledge extends, not to create any living 
thing, in a state of maturity and perfection, at once. 
God has so arranged his plans that existence com- 
mences in weakness and imperfection, and by grad- 
ual progression through various stages, more or less 
protracted, arrives at length at the full development 
and perfection of all its inherent powers. Indeed, 
this is one of the prominent distinctions between 
the organized and the unorganized parts of crea- 
tion. The former, including man, animals, and 
vegetables, commencing existence in a germ, con- 
taining, it is true, all the qualities and properties 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



129 



exhibited in perfection, but reaching that perfection 
only by a gradual unfolding of these properties. 
The latter, composed of the mineral or geological 
world, is formed at once in full possession of all 
the properties and powers ever possessed. 

THE SOUL PROGRESSIVE. 

The young bird makes many attempts, and meets 
with many failures, before it can expand its wings, 
and soar joyously up to meet the morning light. 
But each incipient trial, ending though it may in 
failure, adds renewed strength to its wings, and 
yields instructing lessons of experience, to make 
succeeding efforts the more successful. So of the 
human soul. Formed as it is, for high degrees of 
immortal knowledge, purity and bliss, and possess- 
ing inherently every faculty and capability requi- 
site for the lofty attainments for which it is designed, 
yet it enters not into the immediate enjoyment of 
these attainments, nor can it rise at once to their 
possession. It is only by slow progression, by a 
gradual unfolding, enlarging and strengthening of 
its native capabilities, in the exercise of its moral 
freedom, through a long series of modifications and 
changes, more or less trying and painful, that the 
soul finally gains strength to soar upward to the 
possession and enjoyment of the fulness of heavenly 
knowledge and immortal beatitude. In this pro- 
gression towards its destined perfection, it meets 
with many failures by the way, and displays the 
weakness of its trembling wings by its frequent 
fallings into sin and error. But as it is in its nature 



130 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



to soar, these failures, adding the lessons of experi- 
ence to its native strength, will enable it finally to 
surmount its imperfections, and advance to a par- 
ticipation in infinite glories. 1 

THIS WORLD INTRODUCTORY AND PREPARATORY TO 
ANOTHER. 

" Through various parts our glorious story runs ; 
Time gives the preface, endless age unrolls 
The volume of human fate." 

Under the light of these reflections, we may well 
suppose that this world, being the first stage of 
man's existence, where the soul manifests its pow- 
ers in great imperfection, is a state of discipline, in 
preparation for loftier attainments hereafter. It 
may be believed that here, through temptations 
given way to, and temptations withstood — through 
a mingling experience of sorrow and joy, disap- 
pointment and fruition, self-denial and gratification, 
chastisement and reward — each and all tempered 

1 In the following extract from the works of one of the ancient 
fathers, St. Gregory, of Nysa, will be found an idea similar to that 
expressed above, though connected with the crude notions of that 
age, in regard to purgatory : — " In order that a man might be left 
to the dignity of free will, and evil at the same time be taken from 
him, Divine will thus devised : He allows him [man] to remain 
subject to what himself has chosen, that having tasted of the evil 
which he desired, and learned by experience how bad an exchange 
has been made, he might again feel an ardent wish to lay down the 
load of those vices and inclinations which are contrary to reason ; 
and thus in this life being renovated by prayers and the pursuit of 
wisdom, or in the next being expatiated by the purging fire, he 
might recover the state of happiness which he had lost." — Orat. 
pro defunctis. T. ii., pp. 1066, 7, 8. 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



131 



according to the peculiar circumstances of every 
individual. Divine Providence trains the souls of 
all human beings to the possession of a greater 
amount of spiritual strength, to higher attainments 
and loftier perfections, than they could arrive at 
through any other process. That the soul should 
frequently fall into temporary sin, in the first exer- 
cise of an endowment of so high and peculiar a na- 
ture as moral freedom, and in its efforts to strug- 
gle up to loftier attainments, is no more surprising 
than that the child should stumble and fall in its 
early endeavors to walk alone, or the scholar should 
often err in working out his mathematical problems ; 
yet the sins thus committed form no insurmountable 
obstacle to its future progress or final success. 
Tasting the bitterness of sin, and ere long fully re- 
alizing, from experience, its inseparable connection 
with pain and wretchedness, it will seek the more 
anxiously after that righteousness which alone can 
impart happiness and peace. And is not a holiness 
of heart thus attained through the instructive les- 
sons of experience, of a more enlightened, stable 
and enduring character, than that which should 
spring from intuition alone, or that which owes its 
continuance simply to exemption from temptation? 
St. Paul, as already quoted, gives great weight of 
evidence to these views, in the declaration that man 
was subjected to vanity or imperfection, in hope, and 
only with an express view of a universal deliverance 
therefrom. 1 In the various stages of this discipline 



1 See Rom. viii. 18—22. 



132 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



and progression, divine Justice has an important 
office to fulfil. It is Justice that rewards for temp- 
tations withstood, for obstacles overcome, and for 
merits acquired. It is the same Justice, too, that 
administers chastisement for yielding to temptation, 
and for wandering into paths of sin and evil. But 
every blow which Justice, this minister of a God of 
love, this friend of man, inflicts — every pang it im- 
poses on the guilty — is administered in kindness, 
and designed to restore the wasted powers, to call 
out the latent energies of the soul, to bring it back 
to the true path for its footsteps, and encourage and 
aid it to press on and up to those higher fields of 
knowledge and happiness which are more congenial 
to its nature, and for which it was originally des- 
tined. To attribute any other office or object to 
God's Justice, is to violate its principles, and dese- 
crate it to unholy and evil purposes. 



JUSTICE ONE OF THE MAIN PILLARS OF UNIVERSAL SAL- 
VATION. 

In travelling through the course of reasoning con- 
tained in this chapter, it must have become evident, 
it would seem, to the consistent and candid mind, 
that the attribute of Justice, so far from affording 
even the fragment of a basis on which to build an 
argument against the salvation of the world, is one 
of the strongest pillars by which that divine doc- 
trine is supported. Were there none of the other 
lovely attributes of the Most High revealed to the 
world, the knowledge that he possesses to an infinite 



JUSTICE OF GOD. 



133 



degree the holy principle of Justice, would be am- 
ply sufficient, when duly weighed and understood 
in all its bearings, to lead the reflecting mind up to 
the high and glorious platform of Universal Re- 
demption. 

THIS POSITION CONFIRMED EY SCRIPTURE. 

All those passages of Scripture couched in the form 
of an antithesis, which emphatically proclaim the 
salvation of the world, are based on the plain princi- 
ples of even-handed Justice, and demonstrate conclu- 
sively the views advanced in this chapter. " As in 
Adam, all die, even so" it is but just that "in Christ 
shall all be made alive." 1 " As by the offence of one, 
judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even 
so," on the plain principles of justice, " by the righte- 
ousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto 
justification of life." 2 " As by one man's disobedi- 
ence [the] many were made sinners, so" according 
to the righteous demands of justice, "by the obedi- 
ence of one, shall [the] many be made righteous." 3 
"For he hath concluded them all in unbelief, that" 
in fulfilment of the righteous claims of infinite 
justice, 11 he might have mercy upon all." 4 How 
appropriate to conclude these remarks by joining 
with the Apostle, who, in view of the wonderful 
movements of that all-wise Providence, which brings 
forth the highest benefits, the brightest joys, of uni- 
versal humanity, from the very subjection of the 
world to imperfection and sin, breaks forth in the 

1 1 Cor. xv. 22. 2 Rom. v. 18. 3 Rom. v. 19. 4 Rom. xi. 32. 



134 ARGUMENTS FROM THE JUSTICE OF GOD. 



sublime doxology — "0 the depth of the riches both 
of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How un- 
searchable are his judgments, and his ways past 
finding out! For who hath known the mind of the 
Lord ? Or who hath been his counsellor ? Or who 
hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed 
unto him again? For OF him, and THROUGH 
him, and TO him, are ALL THINGS : to whom be 
glory forever. Amen." 1 

" His purposes -will ripen fast, 
Unfolding every hour ; 
The bud may have a bitter taste, 
But sweet will be the flower." 

» Rom. xi. 33—36. 



ARGUMENT V. 



THE MERCY OF GOD. 

" But Mercy is above the sceptred sway ! 
It is an Attribute of God himself! 
And earthly power doth then show likest God's, 
When Mercy seasons Justice." 

MERCY THE LOVELIEST OF THE ATTRIBUTES. 

Hail ! loveliest of the Attributes ! brightest and 
gentlest of the sister band that minister before the 
Throne of Eternal Love ! Hail ! sweet and tender 
Mercy ! Friend of the friendless ! Pitying angel, 
who weepest over frailty and sin — who fain would 
put thy supporting arm beneath the head of the 
guilty repentant, plunged into the depths of wretch- 
edness and despair, and whisper hope and peace ! 
Though all thy sister attributes were to stand back 
appalled at the dark mountain mass of earthly guilt, 
and leave the victims of ignorance and sin in deso- 
lation and ruin, yet would thy plaintive and affec- 
tionate voice, meek-eyed spirit ! be heard through- 
out heaven, pleading for poor, fallen humanity, and 
urging, with a zealous earnestness which would 
take no refusal, their very helplessness and ruin, as 
a claim upon the pity of the happy dwellers in im- 
mortality ! How pleasant the task to inquire into 
12 



136 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



thy nature, thy influence and office, in the Divine 
councils ! How refreshing to explore the gushing 
fountains, the broad streams, of thy tenderness ! 
How delightful to expatiate upon the lovely graces 
which cluster around thee, and render thy melting 
appeals irresistible to the hardest heart ! 

In contemplating the Mercy of God, we enter 
upon a new, and, if possible, a higher and brighter 
field of exploration. Here, also, whether we walk 
under the light of Reason, or the brighter light of 
Revelation, if we are but faithful to our advan- 
tages, we shall be able to reap rich harvests of im- 
mortal truth, in payment for our researches. For 
here, as in every other portion of the perfect Provi- 
dence of God, it will be found that the voice of true 
and pure Reason, and the voice of Revelation, har- 
moniously unite in proclaiming the same holy and 
lovely truths. 

MERCY A FAVORITE THEME WITH SCRIPTURE WRITERS. 

The attribute of Mercy is a favorite theme with 
the Scripture writers. They expatiate upon it with 
delight and rapture ; and, as in the case of Good- 
ness, they depict its various lovely and valuable 
characteristics in every variety of impressive lan- 
guage. First, Mercy is declared to be an attribute of 
the Most High — "Unto thee, O Lord, belongeth Mer- 
cy." 1 Then the numerous attractive qualities per- 
taining to the mercy of Jehovah are enumerated. It 
is described as a great Mercy — " Thy mercy is great 



» Ps. lxii. 12. 



MERCY OF GOD. 



137 



unto the heavens." 1 As 'plenteous — "The Lord is 
merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and 'plenteous 
in mercy." 2 Good — " Thy mercy is good." 3 Rich 
• — " Who is rich in mercy." 4 Tender and impartial 
— "His tender mercies are over all his works." 5 
Sure — "1 will make an everlasting covenant with 
you, even the sure mercies of David." 6 To exer- 
cise Mercy, is the delight of God — " He retaineth 
not his anger forever, because he delighteth in 
mercy." 7 His Mercy is literally unending — "His 
mercy endure th forever."* 

There is no disagreement, and can be none, 
among theologians, in regard to the fact, that Mercy 
is an attribute of the Deity. But while acknowl- 
edging this fundamental truth, it is held frequently 
in great inconsistency with itself, and most singular 
and contradictory conceptions have been formed of 
its demands, and its office, in the Providence of 
God. 

MERCY OFFERS NO TERMS. 

The Mercy of the Creator is supposed by many to 
manifest itself towards mankind, in offering them 
terms of salvation, and thus opening a way by 
which they can secure the immortal joys of heaven. 
But how Mercy can be discovered in such a trans- 
action, it is difficult to conceive. God foresees the 
end from the beginning. He made mankind such 
beings as he pleased, and knew precisely what 
course they would pursue. What Mercy there 

1 Ps. Mi. 10. 2 Ps. ciii. 8. 3 p s . cix. 21. 4 Eph. ii. 4. 
6 Ps. cxlv. 9. 6 Isa. lv. 3. » Micah vii. 18. 8 Ps. cvi. 1. 



138 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



could be in offering terms of salvation, when he 
foresaw that, constituted and situated as they were, 
multitudes of his children would be so blinded by 
sin and ignorance, as never to accept of them — or of 
opening a way to heaven, in which he well knew, 
before he opened it, they would not walk — it is im- 
possible to comprehend. If our heavenly Parent 
really possesses any Mercy for his offspring, it is 
hard to understand how it can be believed he would 
take such a singular method of showing it to them 
— a method which he foreknew would prove en- 
tirely abortive in the case of millions, and result in 
their everlasting removal far beyond the reach of 
Mercy. But a great mistake is evidently made in 
the supposition that Mercy offers terms. It is Jus- 
tice, and not Mercy, that proposes terms and condi- 
tions. A compliance with terms, necessarily sup- 
poses merit, and it is the office of Justice to reward 
merit. If salvation is obtained by compliance with 
certain terms, then it is earned, and is the plain 
award of Justice. Mercy has no terms affixed to 
the bestowal of its gifts. 



god's mercy unchangeable and eternal. 

While, again, it is admitted in theory that the 
Mercy of God is extended over all men, and will 
endure forever, yet these scriptural views are singu- 
larly contradicted in their practical application to 
doctrines. For it is at the same time believed, that 
from a vast portion of his creatures, his Mercy is 
withdrawn after the lapse of a very brief period, 



MERCY OF GOD. 139 

and that towards them his Mercy will not endure 
forever. This is not only a manifest contradiction 
of the plainest declarations of the Bible, in relation 
to the duration of Mercy, but violates all the in- 
structions of the Scriptures and all conceptions of 
reason, in relation to the nature of God, and makes 
him a changeable being. If the Deity extends his 
Mercy over sinners for threescore years and ten, 
and then that Mercy is withheld, a change must 
necessarily have been effected in one of the parties. 
That the sinner has not changed, is very certain. 
He was a sinner before this withdrawal of Mercy, 
and is the same sinner afterwards. Hence the 
change must be in the Creator. Whereas he was 
merciful towards sinners at one time, at another 
period his Mercy is forever taken from them. In 
such a case, the change not being in the sinner, 
must have taken place in God. This theory is evi- 
dently erroneous. The inspired Word declares that 
"his tender mercies are over all his works," and 
that "his mercy endureth forever." It asserts, 
also, that Jehovah is immutable, unchangeable, the 
same yesterday, to-day, and forever. If, then, the 
Mercy of the Lord embraces sinners at any period 
of their being, it must embrace them forever — it 
will never be withdrawn. And why should it? 
What reason can call for an exercise of God's 
Mercy towards sinners at one period of their exist- 
ence, that does not call for it, with equal force, at 
any other period? Why should Mercy extend its 
pitiful arms around the wicked, and plead their 
cause in this world, and not in the next? They 
12* 



140 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



can do nothing more to merit Mercy here, than 
hereafter. It is not because the sinner has any 
merits but because he has no merit — not because he 
has done anything good, but has done that which is 
evil — not because he has any strength and ability 
to secure his permanent and everlasting good, but is 
feeble and helpless — not because he has any worthi- 
ness, but is unworthy ; is, in fine, a sinner — that he 
is a legitimate object of Mercy. And as long as this 
state of things continues, i. e., as long as men are 
sinners, and are unable to earn eternal felicity, will 
they continue beings in behalf of whom Mercy can 
properly exert its influence. While sin exists, 
Mercy will have legitimate objects for its exercise — 
for it is sin and unworthiness, and helplessness 
only, that can give Mercy any opportunity to dis- 
play its loveliness ! 



MERCY NOT OPPOSED TO JUSTICE. 

The chief difficulty generally prevailing, which 
prevents consistent views of Mercy, is found in the 
supposition that it is the antipodes, the antagonist 
of Justice. It is believed that these two attributes 
are virtually at eternal variance — that it is impossi- 
ble for God to be infinitely Merciful, without inter- 
fering with the awards of Justice, and violating its 
claims — and that he cannot allow all the demands 
of infinite Justice to be satisfied, without sternly 
repulsing the compassionate petitions of Mercy, and 
silencing its voice forever in heaven. Or, to speak 
more definitely in illustration of these erroneous 



MERCY OF GOD. 



141 



views, it is believed all mankind have merited, and 
actually deserve, endless punishment for the sins 
they commit, and that strict, even-handed Justice 
rightfully demands the infliction of this punish- 
ment. On the other hand, it is believed that Mercy 
raises its voice, and exerts all its influence, to pre- 
vent the fulfilment of this demand of Justice — that 
it intercedes to avert this sad doom which Justice 
would inflict upon man, and pleads with all its 
melting eloquence, that ignorant and sinful human- 
ity may be rescued from the grasp of Justice, and 
raised to immortal bliss ! What a spectacle must 
be exhibited in heaven, on the supposition that 
these views are correct ! Two great advocates 
pleading in opposition to each other, in the Councils 
of the Most High, upon the infinitely momentous 
cause of man's everlasting destiny ! Justice urging 
with all its power, that no mercy shall be extended 
to ignorant and frail sinners — and Mercy, with 
equal earnestness, beseeching that Justice shall' be 
peremptorily silenced, and its claims on humanity 
be annulled forever. And man, the passive object 
of this " war in heaven," will be raised to a world 
of infinite joy, or hurled down to a hell of endless 
torment, as victory shall alight upon the standard 
of Mercy or Justice ! It is very evident, if such a 
state of things did exist, that either one or the other 
of these attributes would be pleading that a great 
wrong might be done to man. If the human race 
justly deserve endless punishment, then it would 
manifestly be right to inflict it, and Mercy is plead- 
ing for a great wrong to exist, in opposing its inflic- 



142 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



tion. If, on the contrary, Mercy can legitimately 
claim man, as a true object for its intercession, then 
it would be right for man to be saved from endless 
woe, and Justice is but urging for the committal of 
an infinite wrong, in demanding the infliction of 
such a punishment. If, again, the human race are 
legitimate subjects on which Justice and Mercy both 
have rightful claims, as they self-evidently are, 
then each of these attributes, in putting in exclusive 
and conflicting demands for the possession of man, 
would be contending for wrong I 

SINGULAR ATTEMPT TO RECONCILE JUSTICE AND MERCY. 

Singular as it may appear that sentiments should 
be entertained which involve the holder in conclu- 
sions so contradictory, yet the climax of absurdity 
on this subject is not attained, until we arrive at 
the strange method which it is supposed the Deity 
is compelled to adopt, to satisfy the claims of these 
antagonistic attributes. Beholding this contest be- 
tween his Justice and Mercy, and being desirous to 
satisfy both, it is supposed the Creator finally deter- 
mined to give up his own Son, (or rather himself, 
for it is contended, as a necessary part of this the- 
ory, that Christ is nothing less than the eternal 
God,) as a victim, to satisfy the infinite claims of 
Justice, and, at the same time, allow Mercy to have 
all its desires fulfilled. But, stranger still, it is 
believed even this Infinite Sacrifice has not healed 
the breach between Justice and Mercry. For Jus- 
tice, notwithstanding it has had its victim — not- 



MERCY OF GOD. 



143 



withstanding its demands upon all the human race 
have been infinitely fulfilled by Christ, is not yet 
willing that Mercy should receive mankind to its 
embrace, and make them happy, but is still clamo- 
rous for the torment of human souls in an endless 
hell. And, strangest of all, it is believed that God 
gives way to these greedy and abhorrent hunger- 
ings for the blood of souls, and allows Justice, al- 
though now not possessing the slightest claim upon 
man, to sweep away by far the greater part of 
humanity to eternal agonies! Thus Justice, in 
being allowed to have its demands doubly satisfied, 
has been permitted to inflict an everlasting cruelty 
on helpless victims, while Mercy must fain content 
its infinitely yearning compassion, with compara- 
tively a few of mankind, snatched fortunately from 
the rapacity of Justice ! 

How singular that notions of God and his attri- 
butes, so crude, so contradictory, so manifestly in 
opposition to all reason, should find a place in 
human belief. And yet they have passed current 
for truth, in the Christian church, for centuries. 
That such views do violence to the nature and 
claims of God's Justice, has already been shown in 
a previous chapter. And equally evident is it, that 
they impose a work on Mercy, which it never had 
a disposition to accomplish. 

" They set at odds Heaven's jarring Attributes, 
And with one excellence another wound." 

ENDLESS PUNISHMENT NOT THE DEMAND OF JUSTICE. 

The great error which leads to these unreasona- 



144 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



ble conclusions, is the supposition that divine Jus- 
tice demands the endless punishment of sinners. 
With this error, comes contradiction and confusion. 
It places the attributes of God in hostility to each 
other, and necessarily involves a violation of that 
harmonious action and unity among them, which 
we must believe to exist in the Infinite Mind. If 
such is indeed the demand of Justice — if it pos- 
sesses a legitimate claim to the endless punishment 
of sinners — then all mankind must meet this doom, 
because all have sinned. In this case, every oppor- 
tunity for the display of Mercy will be excluded, 
and this lovely attribute will forever be denied an 
occasion to discharge its delightful office. There 
would be no possible manner for Mercy to throw its 
benevolent arms around a soul of humanity, except 
in direct violation of the legitimate claims of Jus- 
tice. And this the Holy One would never allow ; 
for Justice — pure, uncontaminated, unadulterated 
Justice — is one of the chief pillars on which the 
moral integrity and purity of the divine government 
rests. Were God to permit the smallest tittle of the 
claims of infinite Justice to be unfulfilled — were he 
to allow any obstacle to interfere to prevent the full 
and perfect operation of this holy and salutary prin- 
ciple, the whole moral universe, at the head of 
which he stands, would be forever polluted with 
wrong. It may be depended upon, that Jehovah 
will never allow his Justice to be mitigated, palli- 
ated, or infringed upon, in the slightest degree, 
even at the expostulation and entreaty of Mercy, 
though all the other attributes joined in its peti- 



MERCY OF GOD. 



145 



tions. " Justice and judgment are the habitation 
of thy throne." 1 " He is excellent in power, and in 
judgment, and in plenty of justice." 2 Let it be re- 
peated, that if eternal punishment is the rightful 
claim of Justice for the sins of men, then all men 
will become involved in its torments; and Mercy 
will not, and cannot, make any efforts to reach their 
case, or mitigate their ceaseless miseries in the 
slightest degree ! 

When this overshadowing error in regard to the 
claims of Justice is removed — when it is seen that 
Justice demands, not that men should be punished 
forever, but that every man shall be punished ac^- 
cording to his deeds — when men will understand 
that the pure Justice of heaven calls for the inflic- 
tion of penalty, not for the injury of the sinful, not 
on the principle of retaliation, or of rendering evil 
for evil, but for the good of the guilty, to restore 
them to spiritual soundness and health — then har- 
mony is established in the divine councils, and 
abundant room and opportunity is found for the 
operation of Mercy, Goodness, and all the holy 
attributes, without conflict or confusion. Inasmuch 
as it is for the benefit of the sinful that Justice de- 
mands their punishment, Mercy makes no objection 
to its infliction, and would not prevent it if she 
could — because anything that is for the good of the 
guilty, accords fully with the desires of Mercy. 
And when Justice has had all its claims on the sin- 
ner amply fulfilled, and its work and office in regard 
to him accomplished, and he is discharged from its 

1 Ps. lxxxix. 14. 2 Job xxxvii. 23. 



146 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



high court, there is still in the case of every such 
sinner, an infinite field for the operation and work 
of divine Mercy. It is self-evident that all hu- 
man beings formed by the Creator are, and forever 
must be, subject to the claims of both the Justice 
and Mercy of God. Justice will demand its full 
dues in the case of every individual, without ex- 
ception ; and Mercy will also forever claim them 
as proper objects over whom to throw its pro- 
tecting aegis. Each of these attributes claim all 
created intelligences as theirs, to execute their par- 
ticular office upon. God yields all his creatures up 
to these claims, and allows infinite Justice and infi- 
nite Mercy to execute their entire and perfect work 
upon them ! And yet, to have correct views of the 
divine attributes, it is necessary to behold both Jus- 
tice and Mercy moving on in their distinct spheres, 
with no curtailment, infringement, or clashing of 
claims. 



DISTINCTION BETWEEN JUSTICE AND MERCY. 

To perceive this beautiful truth, it will be neces- 
sary to understand the distinction between the 
offices of Justice and Mercy. Justice is the render- 
ing unto every man his dues, according to his works. 
Mercy is the bestowment of benefits upon those who 
have not merited them, who have no right to de- 
mand them, and who have no claim upon the bene- 
factor, but their want and feebleness. Justice 
repays — repays reward to those who merit it, and 
punishment to those who are deserving of it. 



MERCY OF GOD. 



147 



Mercy never repays, but gives. 11 Without money 
and without price," it bestows its favors. Benefits 
merited, are awarded by Justice — benefits unmer- 
ited, benefits where there is no ability to merit, and 
no power to repay, it is the office of Mercy to be- 
stow. Claims upon Justice are acquired — claims 
upon Mercy are unacquired. The only legitimate 
claim a being can have upon Mercy, is helplessness 
and wretchedness ! All claims except that of want 
and inability, are addressed to different and other 
attributes than Mercy. 

ILLUSTRATION OF THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN JUSTICE 
AND MERCY. 

To illustrate this distinction. A man of wealth 
employs a neighbor who is poor and destitute, and 
who has a sick family in a suffering condition, to 
perform a certain amount of labor, at a stipulated 
price. When the labor is accomplished, the case is 
in the hands of Justice, who thus addresses the em- 
ployer : u You have contracted to reward this poor 
man with a certain sum of money for the perform- 
ance of his work. His labor is accomplished, the 
work is done, he has fulfilled his part of the con- 
tract. Pay him what thou owest." This is all the 
voice Justice has in the case. And when the em- 
ployer pays the compensation promised, the claims 
of Justice are fulfilled — its scales are balanced — its 
connection with the affair ceases, and the case is 
dismissed from its court. Justice can demand no 
more for the laborer, than the stipulated compensa- 
13 



148 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



tion, however much he may need it. The whole 
case now properly comes into the sphere of Mercy. 
And Mercy appeals to the wealthy employer — 
"You are rich, and have more than enough of this 
world's goods to supply your necessities; but your 
laborer is poor and needy — his family are sick and 
destitute — his children are shivering with cold, 
their garments are tattered, and they cry for bread ! 
I pray you, give him something above his just dues, 
for the relief of those dependent on him." This is 
Mercy's claim; and the employer, in complying 
with this appeal, extends mercy towards the la- 
borer, and thus becomes both just and merciful. In 
this case, it will be perceived that Justice and 
Mercy have each discharged their distinct offices — 
have each had their claims fulfilled, without the 
slightest interference or clashing. And equally dis- 
tinct is their work, yet equally harmonious is their 
action, in every transaction where their principles 
are involved, either in rewards or in punishments. 

MERCY SAVES NOT FROM JUST PUNISHMENT. 

One of the offices of God's Mercy, it is sometimes 
supposed, is to intercede and save man from deserved 
and just punishment. But slight reflection, how- 
ever, is necessary to discover the error involved in 
this belief. When sinners are enduring the punish- 
ment which Justice demands, they cannot consist- 
ently call upon Mercy to intercede and procure a 
mitigation or suspension of that punishment. If 
such a call were to be made, Mercy could not 



MERCY OF GOD. 



149 



respond to it , because it would be an interference 
with the rights of Justice, a violation of its claims, 
and an obstacle to the accomplishment of that bene- 
fit which is the sole and constant aim of Justice in 
all its inflictions upon the guilty. If there are any 
circumstances in a given case, which properly call 
for mitigation or suspension of punishment, such 
mitigation or suspension is rendered on principles 
of Justice, and not of Mercy — it belongs to the pun- 
ished by right, and not by favor. 

PARDON FROM PUNISHMENT. 

In human laws, pardon from punishment is not 
administered on a principle of Mercy, but of Justice. 
Such a pardon presupposes either some error in the 
original award of punishment, or some merit ac- 
quired by the criminal while enduring the sentence 
of the law. Pardon granted on either ground, 
would be an act of simple justice — the prisoner de- 
serves it, and hence it is his, on the score of right ; 
and Mercy, properly understood, has no connection 
with the transaction. If a pardon were granted to 
the condemned where there were no mitigating cir- 
cumstances, and where the full weight of guilt, 
unrelieved by any merit, was resting upon him, 
then it would be granted on grounds of Mercy 
alone. Yet such a pardon, granted before punish- 
ment had accomplished its legitimate purposes, 
would be wrong, and manifestly unjust ! Among 
men the pardoning power is intrusted to rulers, on 
the ground that all human laws are imperfect, and 



150 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



imperfectly administered ; that the innocent are lia- 
ble to be wrongfully condemned, and that the pun- 
ishments inflicted on the guilty may be improperly 
applied. 

PARDON UNNECESSARY IN A PERFECT GOVERNMENT, 

An imperfect government requires the power to 
pardon from punishment, to remedy its mistakes, 
and correct its erroneous administrations of Justice. 
But in an all-perfect government there can be no 
room, no call for the exercise of the pardoning 
power ; because Justice will invariably be adminis- 
tered right at first — and hence there can be no mis- 
takes to remedy afterwards. This view of pardon 
is taken by the most eminent jurists and law com- 
mentators. 

Imperfection is not attached to the government of 
God. Hence Mercy is not exhibited by the great 
Judge of all, in the form of pardon from merited 
punishment. In heaven's government, there is no 
ignorance, no mistake, no improper infliction of 
penalty, and therefore there is no room and no need 
for the extension of pardon from punishment. In 
each case of guilt, the all- wise Judge is acquainted 
with every particular connected therewith — he 
knows the heart of the sinner — understands per- 
fectly the amount of demerit involved in his crimes 
— and, under the light of this knowledge, he is 
capable of adapting the punishment, in the first 
instance, precisely to the given case, to the amount 
of guilt incurred, to the condition of the mind and 
heart of the culprit, and is able to temper its inten- 



MERCY OF GOD. 



151 



sity in any degree, to produce the renovation and 
amendment of the being involved therein. Where 
is there any room or need of pardon, or mitigation 
of punishment 1 It is evident, that in such circum- 
stances, a pardon from punishment, so far from 
being an act of Mercy, would be a wrong and an 
evil, 

JUSTICE DEMANDS THE CESSATION OF PUNISHMENT. 

All the punishments of God are just. They are 
inflicted upon sinners in accordance to the amount 
of their guilt, and for the purpose of their restora- 
tion to virtue and righteousness. Mercy cannot 
desire to interfere to arrest a just punishment. 
There is no necessity for such a step. When the 
guilty have suffered chastisement to the amount 
demanded by Justice, it is not Mercy, but Justice 
itself, that calls for that punishment to cease. It 
would be as manifest a violation of Justice, to have 
the sinner afflicted with one pang of punishment, 
beyond his actual demerit, as it would to have him 
escape all penalty. Justice raises its voice as im- 
peratively in demanding that punishment shall 
cease, when its claims have been fulfilled, as to 
have it commence in the first place. There is no 
occasion, therefore, for Mercy ever to call for a ces- 
sation of the penalties inflicted upon the transgres- 
sor. This belongs not to its office. 

THE LEGITIMATE FIELD FOR MERCY. 

Where, then, is there opportunity for God to dis- 
play his attribute of Mercy 1 If sinners are pun- 
13* 



152 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



ished to the full extent that Justice can claim, and 
their punishment is brought to a termination by the 
voice of Justice itself, how can the Creator have 
mercy on them? — and what need is there for the 
exercise of Mercy in such a case? In answer to 
these questions, let the condition of sinners in such 
circumstances, be inquired into. Have they any 
claim to the blessings of God, to the joys of heaven, 
simply on the ground that they have suffered all 
the punishment for their sins that Justice de- 
mands ? What merit is there in enduring the pen- 
alty justly due their crimes ? There can be none. 
It is but experiencing that chastisement which they 
deserved in consequence of wilful sins committed. 
At best they can then stand only on the ground 
they occupied before they incurred guilt. The fact 
that a culprit has served out his time in prison, does 
not entitle him to become an inmate of the family 
of the Judge who sentenced him, and to share in his 
property. But while the discharged criminal has 
no claims for these favors, if the Judge, moved by 
compassion for his destitute condition, and becom- 
ing interested in his welfare, is pleased to admit him 
to the enjoyments of his family circle, and even give 
him any amount of his possessions, it would be per- 
fectly right for him so to do. And this would be 
not an act of Justice, but of legitimate Mercy. But 
the prisoner who should claim or expect these favors 
of the Judge, because he has endured his sentence, 
would be modest in his demands, in comparison 
with a sinner who claims or expects the joys of 



MERCY OF GOD. 



153 



heaven, in consequence of having endured all the 
punishment Justice demands for his wickedness. 

When the sinful children of humanity have been 
punished to the full extent of the requirements of 
Justice, and the account of this great attribute 
stands balanced with them* and they are discharged 
from all its demands, this gives them no rightful 
claim to be raised to eternal happiness, neither does 
it entitle them to the interference of Mercy. But 
they are needy, helpless, perishing, and without 
divine assistance from above, they must fall into 
dark annihilation. It is this helplessness, this utter 
want, that makes them the legitimate objects of 
Mercy. And now, the way being clear, Justice 
having discharged its office in respect to every 
human being, Mercy finds an open field for its 
operations, and intercedes in behalf of humanity. 
Its sweet voice is heard in heaven in eloquent 
pleadings for the imperfect sons of earth. It be- 
seeches that man, the unworthy child of God, who, 
although subjected to vanity and imperfection, still 
possesses undeveloped powers of the most valuable 
description, in the unfolding of which he can be 
made to rival the mental and moral perfections of 
angels, may be saved from sin and death, and led 
up to higher and brighter worlds, and to the enjoy- 
ment of infinite scenes of heavenly progression ! 
And to these divine petitions, the Father of spir- 
its listens with a consenting ear. He has no attri- 
bute that puts in an objection to this compassionate 
call of Mercy. Justice is satisfied, its books are 
balanced, and it joins harmoniously with Goodness, 



154 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



and every holy impulse in favoring and sustaining 
the petition of Mercy. God will answer this peti- 
tion. Mercy is his favorite attribute. " He delight- 
eth in mercy." 1 

god's mercy a sure foundation for hope. 

The Mercy of God forms a consistent foundation, 
upon which the hope of immortal happiness can 
rest. Here hope finds a sure basis, not only for 
individual salvation, but for the salvation of the 
race. If the Mercy of God can legitimately extend 
to the salvation of one soul, it can to all souls. The 
only claim upon Mercy, being want and helpless- 
ness, and all men being equally needy, dependent 
and weak, in regard to immortality, all are there- 
fore equally embraced in the work of infinite Mercy, 
and will experience the fruit of its divine interces- 
sions. Mercy can make no distinction among those 
who alike need its offices of love. This would be 
in violation of its own nature. " His tender mercies 
are over all his works." To suppose God will have 
mercy upon one portion of his creatures, and not 
upon another, even though one part is less sinful 
than the other, is to contradict the promptings of 
Mercy, and to confound together the different offices 
of the attributes. If any part of mankind have 
claims to superior benefits or to rewards, in conse- 
quence of meritorious deeds, these claims cannot be 
addressed to Mercy, nor can they influence this 

1 Micah vii. 18. 



MERCY OF GOD. 155 

attribute to bestow upon them a monopoly of its 
blessings. All such claims are directed to Justice 
— and Justice will reward them fully. If any man 
can merit the eternal joys of heaven by his conduct 
upon the earth, then those joys will be imparted to 
him, on the score of justice alone. Mercy bestows 
favors that cannot be reached as rewards. Its work 
commences where that of Justice terminates ; and it 
lavishes gifts upon humanity that never can be 
earned or merited. The Scriptures, as well as the 
sober deductions of reason, declare that man cannot 
earn, or become worthy in consequence of his deeds 
in this life, the endless felicity of heaven. " By grace 
[free gift — mercy] are ye saved through faith ; and 
that not of yourselves : it is the gift [mercy] of God : 
not of works, [not by the rewards of Justice,] lest 
any man should boast." 1 In this passage it is de- 
clared unequivocally, that salvation is not to be 
given as a reward for works, but that it is a free 
gift, an unpurchased bestowment of Mercy, from 
God. And from the impartiality of his nature, a 
gift so beyond all merit, all earning, if bestowed 
upon one of his creatures, will be bestowed on all. 

CORROBORATED BY THE SCRIPTURES. 

The principles advanced in these positions, are 
clearly recognized in the language of the prophet — 
"For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but 
with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little 



1 Eph. ii. 8, 9. 



156 



„ ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment ; but 
with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, 
saith the Lord thy Redeemer." 1 To describe the 
movements of God's providence, the prophet selects 
such language as, while it states true principles, is 
at the same time accommodated to the appearances 
presented to man, especially in the age when it 
was written. And although its original and direct 
application is to the Jews, yet it develops the princi- 
ples upon which Jehovah deals with all his way- 
ward creatures — for the impartial Father of spirits 
exercises the same government over his offspring 
among all nations, and in every age. " For a small 
moment have I forsaken thee. * * * * In a little 
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment." 
When man is enduring that punishment for his 
sins, which a just Providence invariably brings up- 
on the transgressor, it appears as though his heav- 
enly Parent had hid his face from him and forsaken 
him. And many, deceived by appearances, and 
mistaking the character of God and the objects of 
punishment, believe, and contend, and teach, that 
Jehovah does actually and forever forsake his crea- 
tures, when the time comes for the infliction of pun- 
ishment. But a greater error could not be fallen 
into. It is but "for a small moment," compara- 
tively, that the Creator and the creature stand in 
this relation towards each other. It is only while 
even-handed, pure-hearted Justice is inflicting those 
stripes which the good of the sinner demands, and 



» Isa. liv. 7, 8. 



MERCY OF GOD. 



157 



which are essential to bring him to repentance and 
purification, that the Father seemingly "hides his 
face" from him. " Your iniquities have separated 
between you and your God, and your sins have 
hid his face from you, that he will not hear." 
But this state of things is not eternal. " Behold, 
the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot 
save ; neither is his ear heavy, that he cannot 
hear." 1 When Justice has accomplished its ends 
— when punishment has yielded its legitimate and 
desired fruit — then all the clouds of error and 
^reconciliation, which have hung over the horizon 
of the sinner's sight, and hid the face of the Most 
High, are scattered away, and the lovely form of 
Mercy is revealed, extending its compassionate arms 
to raise frail humanity from its subjection to imper- 
fection and sin. Then " with great mercies will I 
gather thee"— then " with everlasting kindness will 
I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Re- 
deemer." 

UNIVERSALITY OF GOD's MERCY. 

The universality of the Mercy of God is made 
evident, not only from the impartiality of his na- 
ture, but from the explicit declarations of his holy 
Word. It is declared that "his tender mercies are 
over all his works." Blessed truth ! The great 
Jehovah — the independent, the all-powerful God — 
who is abundantly able to accomplish his will, and 

i Isa. lix. 1, 2. 



158 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



to gratify every impulse of his holy nature, and 

who possesses infinite resources wherewith to bless 
the objects of his regard — extends his Mercy over 
all ! He delights to bestow blessings on all his 
creatures, far above their deserts— to visit those 
who are poor, and needy, and helpless, who can 
urge no worthiness acquired amid their imperfec- 
tions, who have no claim upon the boundless riches 
of his grace, and pour out upon them the inexhaust- 
ible floods of his Mercy ! He will do this for his 
own pleasure, as well as for the good of his crea- 
tures. For 

" Mercy is twice blessed ; 

It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes." 

When the scripture writers declare that God's " ten- 
der mercies are over all his works," they do not 
use an empty form of words. Every letter is full 
of infinite meaning. They would have the world 
understand and believe, that each creature ushered 
into existence — every beast, bird, creeping thing, 
the insect that floats upon a sunbeam, the animal- 
cule that sports in a dew-drop — and especially man. 
formed in the image of his Creator — is surrounded 
by the unpurchased Mercy of the Eternal. And 
that Mercy, they would have us realize, is a tender 
Mercy — is full of utmost pity and compassion — 
overflowing with boundless kindness and love for 
the weak and dependent race of man ! This Mercy 
"endureth forever!" It knows no diminution, no 
change, no faltering, no end. While the throne of 
Omnipotent Love shall stand, this tender Mercy 
shall enfold humanity in its sweet embrace ! Ex- 



MERCY OF GOD. 



159 



alted and cheering truth. Who, that has felt the 
promptings of Mercy in his own soul, can doubt it? 
Who can believe the Creator and Father of all, with 
this infinite and tender spirit of Mercy pervading 
his nature, and influencing to every blessed deed, 
will ever turn upon his offspring and rend them 
with eternal agonies? Who can believe that 
he will allow any soul he has formed, to stray away 
so far into sin and ignorance, as to be beyond the 
reach of that boundless Mercy which yearns with 
pity for the degraded, and that Arm omnipotent, 
which is stretched out to save to the uttermost ? 

The scripture writers evidently had lofty and 
extended conceptions of the Mercy of the Most 
High, and looked upon it as his favorite attribute. 
They never say that God delights in Wisdom, or 
Power, or Justice ; but they are careful to declare 
that " he delighteth in Mercy !" 

" What most thy name must elevate', 
Is that thou art a God of love ; 
And Mercy is the central sun 
Of all thy glories joined in one." 

That his pleasure in the activity of this attribute, is 
of the most boundless extent, is made evident by the 
declaration of the Psalmist, above quoted, that "his 
tender mercies are over all his works." 1 Unless 
there is a member of the human race, who is not 
the workmanship of God, then there is not one but 
what is embraced in his Mercy. Not embraced for a 
short period, and then excluded forever after. This 

1 Ps. cxlv. 9. 

14 



160 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



would make the Mercy of God of a very brief dura- 
tion ; whereas the Bible declares, and reiterates em- 
phatically, in a multitude of instances, that " the 
mercy of the Lord endureth forever!" All "the 
works" of Goo", all human beings, will therefore be 
forever the recipients of his " tender mercies." But 
this question is cleared of all doubt, and placed be- 
yond the reach of cavil, by the singularly plain and 
emphatic language of St. Paul — "God hath concluded 
them all in unbelief, that he might HAVE MERCY 
UPON ALL ! ! " 1 This declaration scatters all the 
clouds of unbelief which can possibly surround this 
great doctrine of boundless Mercy, and reveals it to 
the most feeble vision and faithless heart, by the 
flashings of the concentrated rays of divine truth 
directly upon it. The holy One included all his 
offspring in unbelief, that he might have an oppor- 
tunity to experience the infinite pleasure of hav- 
ing mercy upon all ! Well may the Apostle, with 
his mind illuminated Avith the heavenly light of this 
glorious truth, and soaring up to survey the bound- 
less and infinite fulness of its promised blessings, 
break forth in heavenly rapture — "O the depth of 
the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of 
God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and 
his ways past finding out." 

GOD DELIGHTS IN MERCY. 

" He delighteth in mercy," 2 exclaims the prophet. 
This declaration contains a truth which is of no 
slight importance. That the words of Micah can 



i Rom. xi. 32. 



2 Micah vii. 18. 



MERCY OF GOD. 



161 



be relied upon — that God actually experiences de- 
light in the exercise of Mercy — will not be ques- 
tioned by any man who himself possesses a benev- 
olent and merciful spirit. This position may, indeed, 
be doubted by an individual having an opposite 
disposition. A person whose feelings are hardened 
and soured — who has little or no sympathy for his 
fellow-man — who is a stranger to the promptings of 
compassion — whose heart is unsusceptible to pure 
and gentle impressions — and who is so wrapped up 
in himself, that he is indifferent to the weal or woe 
that attends his brother man — may question whether 
Deity will exercise Mercy to any extent, and doubt 
especially whether God delights in Mercy. Judging 
the Creator by himself, he cannot comprehend how 
Jehovah can find any enjoyment in extending 
Mercy to frail and erring creatures. He feels it to 
be a greater delight to his own soul, to inflict revenge 
upon his enemies — to gratify the passions of hatred 
and malice — and to injure and afflict those who have 
offended him — than to indulge a weak feeling of 
pity and mercy towards them. There are not a few 
even among professing Christians, who are in this 
predicament — who are apparently skeptical as to 
any particular enjoyment to be derived from an 
exercise of the finer emotions of the soul, and who 
actually doubt whether it is proper to give way to 
their promptings. It is not unfrequently contended 
that compassion for the distressed is a human weak- 
ness, and that it is improper and unmanly to cherish 
it to any great extent — or at least to draw any con- 
clusion from its promptings in our own hearts, as to 



162 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



its influence upon the Most High ! But how little 
can they know of the true nature of Mercy, or of 
the spirit of God. Mercy a weakness ! So far from 
this, it is the highest and purest moral principle in 
the human soul. It forms one of the chief distinc- 
tions between mankind and the brute world. A 
feeling of pity or mercy towards the distressed and 
helpless, is an emotion which animals are incapable 
of experiencing. This is a moral trait which char- 
acterizes the loftiest grades of beings, and constitutes 
their highest excellency. There is no action con- 
ceivable which approaches nearer the sublime 
height of moral perfection, than compassion for the 
weak and suffering. Mercy is the loveliest at- 
tribute of the Most High — it forms the brightest ray 
in the halo of God's glory. And the man who is 
the most merciful, acts the most like God. Can 
that be weakness in human beings, which constitutes 
the most attractive and valuable trait in the Di- 
vine Nature ? We are commanded by the Saviour 
to imitate God in the exhibition of Mercy — "Be ye 
therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." 
Would the Redeemer have called upon his followers 
to exercise Mercy, if it is but a human weakness? 



god's moral qualities to be judged by man's. 

In revealing himself unto his creatures through 
the Scriptures, God has made use of such expres- 
sions, such forms of speech, and descriptions as they 
would best understand. In portraying his attributes 
he has been particular to represent them by the 



MERCY OF GOD. 163 

names of certain emotions and faculties which man 
feels in his own mind, so that we need not mistake 
as to his meaning. And in perusing these descriptions 
of the nature of God, we should give them the 
meaning which accords the most perfectly with the 
prompting of the same principles in our own souls. 
Hence, when we read that God is good or just, we 
must understand that lie possesses moral character- 
istics similar to those we see manifested by man, and 
those we also feel influencing our hearts, and which 
we call goodness or justice. If the Creator did not 
design man thus to judge of the meaning of his lan- 
guage, then he has made no revelation to the world, 
the Bible is written in an " unknown tongue," and 
the human race are still in total ignorance of the 
character of Jehovah ! The same rule of judging 
as above described, must be observed in relation to 
all the attributes of Deity. When the Bible de- 
clares that Mercy is one of the perfections of God, 
if we would obtain any true idea from the language, 
we must understand it as asserting that in the nature 
of the Most High, there exists in infinite fulness and 
immutable perfection, an emotion similar to that 
which is experienced by man when his soul yearns 
with pity and compassion toward some helpless 
being plunged in pain and wretchedness, and when 
he feels an impulse he cannot resist, to fly to 
his succor and relief. And when the Bible further 
declares that God delights in Mercy, we can draw no 
other meaning than that it affords infinite pleaswe to 
the Father of spirits to rescue, and raise up, and bless 
the weak, wretched, sinful creatures of his hand. 
14* 



164 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



It is true there is a distinction between the mercy 
of man and the Mercy of God. But it is a distinction 
in degree and not in nature. In both, the principle 
is the same ; but in man it is finite, while in God it 
is infinite ; in man it is exhibited imperfectly, being 
modified and biassed by the various and conflicting 
passions of the body, but in God it is manifested in 
the utmost perfection and fulness, deriving aid, 
cooperation and sympathy, as it does, from all the 
other attributes in the divine character. The high- 
est idea of the distinction between the Mercy of God 
and man, to which the meagreness of human lan- 
guage will allow utterance to be given, is that the 
mercy of the most compassionate, generous, tender- 
hearted individual that the world has ever known, 
and all the good deeds which that mercy has led 
him to do for the wretched, sinks from the sight 
and fades away, as it were, into nothing, in compari- 
son with the tenderness, the fulness, perfection, 
boundlessness and immutability, of the Mercy of 
God, and the blessings which will flow from that 
Mercy to the sinful race of man ! 

god's delight in mercy understood by the good 

MAN. 

While the cold-hearted and selfish man doubts as 
to enjoyment being derived from the exercise of the 
pure and heavenly emotions of compassion, and 
gives but little weight to the Bible assertion that 
God delights in Mercy, the whole subject presents a 
different aspect to him whose soul is pervaded with 



MERCY OF GOD. 



165 



the heaven-born principles of goodness and pity. 
He is not astonished that the Creator derives delight 
from the display of Mercy. From a happy expe- 
rience he has learned that " it is more blessed to give 
than to receive." He has found that in cherishing 
the principle of compassion, and following out its 
promptings — in seeking the needy, the helpless, the 
wretched, and giving them relief — in raising up and 
comforting the sons and daughters of want and 
misery — he has realized the purest and sweetest 
delights of his existence. He has learned that in 
every act of relief prompted by pity for the miserable, 
he has made himself even more happy than the 
objects of his compassion. Finding this pleasure, 
this rich reward, in the exercise of Mercy in his own 
case, he can well believe the words of revelation 
that " God delighteth in mercy." He can appreciate 
the truthfulness of this language — he can under- 
stand how it is that the great Jehovah finds one of 
the chief sources of his pleasure, in stooping down 
from his high throne, and giving free and full exer- 
cise to the promptings of his infinite Mercy towards 
the erring and perishing creatures he has formed ! 

mercy's desires satisfied. 

In the important and well-established truth, that 
God delights in Mercy, is found the most conclusive 
evidence that he will exercise this emotion to the 
fullest extent. Each attribute of Jehovah, being 
infinite in its resources, will not cease its operations 
nor be satisfied with the condition of things, until 



166 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



it has accomplished all its nature prompts, — i. e. ; 
until it beholds every desirable work completed for 
man that comes within its particular sphere. Good- 
ness will continue its work until there is naught 
but good in the universe — Justice will exert its 
powers, until its claims are all fulfilled, and its 
divine principles are established in every intelligent 
soul. And Mercy will never have its yearnings 
gratified and its labors accomplished, while there 
is a being in creation who needs its kind offices ! 
Hence to have Mercy's work all done, and its 
wishes fully gratified, it must be extended to every 
child of humanity. Less than this cannot satisfy 
infinite Mercy. It may be said, there can be no 
delight in having mercy on depraved and wicked 
creatures. Let those who entertain this thought, 
listen to the language addressed to them by the 
Son of God — " Go ye and learn what that meaneth, 
I will have mercy and not sacrifice." 1 Go ye and 
learn that if men were not sinful and wretched, 
they would not need Mercy ! Can that sinfulness 
which alone calls for Mercy, be an insurmountable 
obstacle to the display of Mercy ? But some may 
add, it would not he right to extend Mercy to 
the sinful and ignorant. " Nay but, O man, who 
art thou that repliest against God?" Who art 
thou that enterest thy objections against the Holy 
One for doing that in which he takes delight ? 
Is he not the Author of all things? Has he not 
the right to fulfil his own pleasure, and to gratify 



1 Matthew ix. 13. 



MERCY OF GOD. 



167 



the promptings of his own holy and perfect attri- 
butes? Art thou not also a sinner — and dost 
thou not thus cut off thine own hopes of Mercy 7 
But why would it not be right for the Creator to 
extend Mercy towards the sinful — yea, towards the 
whole race of man ? Would it be because some are 
more worthy than others 1 This objection cannot 
be valid ; because, for any superior degree of worthi- 
ness one individual may possess above another, he 
is amply and abundantly rewarded by Justice — and 
having been thus once repaid for his worthiness, it 
can give him no exclusive claim to Mercy, above 
any other fellow-being. No consistent man can 
demand or expect to be doubly rewarded for any 
excellency he may manifest. It is Justice, and not 
Mercy, as already shown, that rewards, repays, 
blesses, for whatever good deeds men may do. Mer- 
cy's favors cannot be earned — they are gifts, free, 
unbought, unmerited. Hence all men are equally 
the subjects of her smiles. Or* if there are distinc- 
tions, those who are the most blind, and sinful, and 
helpless, are the most proper objects for Mercy's 
gifts, because they need them the most. It would, 
therefore, not only be right to exercise Mercy towards 
the sinful, but all being on a level as to ability to 
earn it, impartiality demands that it shall be extended 
alike to all. And rest assured, the Almighty will 
pay no heed to the objections and fault-findings of 
cold, unconverted hearts. He will continue to 
exercise his prerogative as Sovereign Ruler of the 
universe, and do that in which he delighteth. " For 
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I 



168 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



will have mercy, and I will have compassion on 
whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not 
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of 
God that showeth mercy." 1 

GOD WILL NOT DEPRIVE HIMSELF OF THAT WHICH GIVES 
DELIGHT. 

To exercise Mercy affords delight to the Almighty ! 
Think of this truth, dear reader. Reflect that a be- 
ing whose sources of pleasure are infinite and ex- 
haustless, still finds an added delight in extending 
Mercy to erring man ! How pure, how holy, exalted, 
lovely, precious, must be an emotion thus capa- 
ble of imparting renewed enjoyments to Jehovah ! 
Shall such a principle remain dormant in the divine 
nature, when the endless happiness of a race is de- 
pendent upon its active exercise ? Shall it cease its 
work when it has, comparatively, but just com- 
menced ? Shall it confine its operations to a small 
circle, when there are boundless fields where it can 
legitimately and rightfully extend its blessed influ- 
ences ? Can Mercy, whose whole nature is to pity 
and yearn over the fallen and helpless, satisfy all its 
longings, in carrying succor and deliverance to a 
small fragment of the sinful race of man, while the 
great mass of humanity stretch forth their hands to- 
wards her and beseech her assistance ? And more- 
over, will the Father of spirits deprive himself of 
that in which he delights 1 Will he cramp down to 
narrow paths, the movements of his Mercy, when 

1 Romans ix. 15, 16. 



MERCY OF GOD. 



169 



there is a universe throughout which it can go forth, 
carrying light and joy, smiles and blessings, to 
all created beings, and returning with new delights 
to its divine Author? From the vast ocean of infi- 
nite Mercy, will God only allow himself the delight 
of permitting a few sparse drops to fall upon his 
earthly creatures, when it can send forth broad and 
deep rivers, whose swelling floods can flow to the 
widest verge of man's sinful wanderings ? Will he 
deny himself the privilege of conferring the bene- 
fits of such a display of Mercy upon his creatures, 
and of furnishing this infinite delight to himself? 

Inasmuch as the Deity delights in Mercy, it is evi- 
dent his delight is magnified in the same proportion 
that he exercises this attribute, and lessened in the 
same ratio as he seals up the channels of Mercy. 
Hence if the exercise of Mercy is limited to a 
number less than the whole race of humanity, the 
delight experienced by the Creator in its display, 
must be vastly less than if it were extended to the 
entire family of man ! To have his delight com- 
plete and perfect, his Mercy must reach every case 
of sin, and ignorance, and suffering, in the universe, 
and restore to purity, knowledge and bliss ! That 
this position is well-grounded, and that Jehovah 
has determined to have the delight of extending 
Mercy to all mankind, is placed beyond the reach of 
question by the word of revelation, which cannot 
be too frequently quoted — "God hath concluded 
them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon 
all!" Gracious assurance, lovely truth ! Behold, 
how brightly it breaks through the dark clouds of 



170 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



man's unbelief, and sends its sweet and heavenly 
light upon the doubting and troubled soul ! 

" But above all, in her own light arrayed, 
See Mercy's grand apocalypse displayed ! " 

VALUE OF THE HUMAN SOUL. 

A want of a proper estimation of the value of the 
human soul has caused many to be led more readily 
into error in regard to the extent of divine Mercy. 
How coolly multitudes will contend for the everlast- 
ing wretchedness of their fellow-beings ! With what 
nonchalance they will speak of the infinite torment 
of the soul of a deceased neighbor, as though it 
were of no more value than the life of an insect ! 
With what composure, and ease, and comfort, they 
will rest under the belief that souls more numerous 
than leaves upon the trees of the forest, will be 
plunged into utter despair, and writhe in unmiti- 
gated agonies forever ! This awful indifference is to 
be attributed, not so much to a deadness of the bet- 
ter sensibilities of the heart, and an absence of that 
sympathizing love for humanity which heaven com- 
mands us to cherish, as to the lack of a due realiza- 
tion of the worth of the soul of man. Let them 
reflect upon the endowments and capacities of the 
soul. It has capabilities for the attainment of knowl- 
edge to an almost infinite extent. Give it but the 
opportunity and the facilities, and it will ascend the 
vast scale of attainable wisdom, to a height rival- 
ing even the angels of heaven ! And its moral ca- 
pacities ! What extent of goodness — what depths 



MERCY OF GOD. 



171 



of benevolence — what heights and lengths of love 
and kindness, of righteousness and purity — what 
displays of affection, benevolence, charity, compas- 
sion, and all conceivable virtues — has not the hu- 
man soul manifested in this imperfect world? This 
display demonstrates the inherent moral capabilities 
of all souls. For the same original germs of moral 
ability are implanted in every intelligent creature. 
And how vastly may these excellences be magnified 
under the more favorable influences of a higher 
state of existence. Are not souls possessing these 
capabilities, of immense value? What is therein 
all the material universe that can compare in worth, 
with the soul of even one of the most ignorant and 
sinful of men ? 

" Know'st thou the importance of a soul immortal ? 
Behold this midnight glory : worlds on worlds ! 
Amazing pomp ! Redouble this amaze ; 
Ten thousand add ; and twice ten thousand more ; 
Then weigh the whole : one soul outweighs them all ; 
And calls the astonishing magnificence 
Of unintelligent creation poor." 
######## 

This immeasurable value of the souls of hu- 
man beings, must not be overlooked in understand- 
ing the dealings of God. Neither is the subject of 
their immortal destiny to be trifled with, nor lightly 
or hastily decided. That the Creator of such souls 
must entertain a high estimation of their worth, and 
a deep interest in their everlasting welfare, who can 
doubt? And who can wonder that, when, in the 
exercise of an endowment so high and peculiar as 
15 



172 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



moral freedom, in the midst of a world full of temp- 
tations, a soul falls into sin and darkness, for a sea- 
son, the Holy One delights to extend towards it the 
embrace of infinite Mercy, restore it to purity, and 
place it in a world where it shall have an opportu- 
nity to go on in endless progression, enlarging its 
capacities, and developing all its inherent capabili- 
ties ! " Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, 
and not one of them is forgotten before God? " 1 If 
the Creator remembers the little sparrow — if he has 
compassion on the meanest insect he has formed, 
and supplies all it wants during the whole period of 
its existence, will he do less for each soul formed in 
his own image ? Will he do less for beings posses- 
sing capabilities so valuable, and destined to exist 
forever ? Who can entertain a doubt on this point ? 

GOD'S ESTIMATION OF THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. 

There are not wanting the most abundant indica- 
tions of the value which the Creator places upon the 
souls of men. In the provisions he has made for 
the sustenance, the comfort, the improvement of 
mankind in the present world — in his willingness 
to reveal himself unto his creatures, and to instruct 
them in heavenly truth and wisdom — in sending his 
Son to endure the trials of earthly life, and to shed 
his blood on Calvary for the redemption of a world — 
we behold how precious the soul of man is in his 
sight. 

1 Luke xii. 6. 



MERCY OF GOD. 



173 



* * * " The soul's high price 
Is writ in all the conduct of the skies : 
The soul's high price is the creation's key, 
Unlocks its mysteries, and naked lays 
The genuine cause of every deed divine." 

After having created the soul in his own image — - 
after having endowed it with faculties so high and 
valuable — after having in so many ways showed 
the deepest interest in its welfare — after having 
made it the object of his care, his protection, his love, 
through life, — will God permit it at death to pass 
beyond the reach of his Mercy, and fall into eternal 
darkness and ruin ? The teachings of the Scriptures, 
the dictates of reason, and the voice of nature, all 
unite in exclaiming, Impossible ! Impossible ! ! 

GLORIOUS CONCLUSIONS FROM THE MERCY OF GOD. 

The views of the Mercy of God, advanced in this 
Argument, bring us to legitimate conclusions, which 
accord with the holiest wishes of the Christian's 
heart, and agree with the dictates of unbiassed rea- 
son. It is under the light of these views only, that 
man is enabled to conceive of harmony and unity 
in Jehovah's councils. It is under their light only, 
that Justice and Mercy are removed from their an- 
tagonistic attitude, and made to meet and ''kiss 
each other," and go together, hand in hand, in all 
the movements of a wonder-working Providence. 
Here alone Justice is granted all its dues — here 
alone Mercy has its every impulse completely grati- 
fied — here alone all the attributes perform their 
allotted office, without obstruction, or interference, 
or failure! Blessed harmony — holy agreement! 



174 ARGUMENTS FROM THE MERCY OF GOD. 

Worthy a perfect God — infinitely worthy the Fa- 
ther of spirits ! O, the bright and blissful prospect 
of the future, which is unveiled to the eye of faith, 
in this heavenly system ! Justice abundantly satis- 
fied — Mercy exulting in the infinite gratification of 
its desires — the law of God obeyed and loved, by 
every intelligent being — the ways of Providence 
vindicated, and seen to have ever been in accord- 
ance with infinite Wisdom — the great family of 
man purified, sanctified, and saved — Justice, Mercy, 
Goodness, Truth, triumphant over all sin, cruelty, 
evil, and error — the great God of heaven honored 
in his attributes, in his works, his ways, and infi- 
nitely glorified in the infinite glory, holiness and 
bliss of his intelligent creation ! ! My soul soars far 
away, in delighted survey of this blessed hope — it 
ascends up, high and higher yet! — beholding no 
bound nor limit to the still enlarging expanse of 
grace, until it becomes bewildered in the very im- 
mensity of Good, which the God of all has prepared 
for his creatures ! Gladly and joyfully does it join 
in the divine strain of the Psalmist — " Make a joy- 
ful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the 
Lord with gladness ; come before his presence with 
singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God : it is 
he that made us, and not we ourselves : we are his 
people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his 
gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with 
praise : be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 
For the Lord is good; his Mercy is everlasting; 
and his truth endure th to all generations." 1 



i Ps. c. 1—5. 



ARGUMENT VI. 



THE WILL OF GOD. 

" And yet thy kindness deigns to show- 
Enough for mortal minds to know : 
While Wisdom, Goodness, Power divine, 
Through all thy works and conduct shine, 
O, may our souls with rapture trace 
Thy works of Nature and of Grace ; 
Explore thy sacred Truth, and still 
Press on to know and do thy Will." 

THE WILL OF GOD A COMBINATION OF HIS ATTRIBUTES. 

In former chapters we have examined what may 
be considered the prominent attributes of the Deity 
— viz. j his Goodness, Wisdom, Power, Justice and 
Mercy. Although the Will of God cannot be con- 
sidered an attribute, yet as its existence in the Di- 
vine Mind depends entirely upon the consent and 
cooperation of all his attributes, and is indeed the 
fruit of such a cooperation, it may legitimately 
claim our attention in this series of Arguments. 

Will or Determination is created by a harmonious 
combination of the faculties of the mind in regard 
to any given subject. Without such combination it 
is impossible that any Will, properly speaking, can 
be formed. This is the origin of Will in man, and 
it may consistently be believed that the Will of 
15* 



176 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



God is formed in a similar manner. The Creator 
does not Will or Determine to perform any action 
at the prompting of a single attribute, without the 
consent of the remainder. A Will formed in such 
a manner, would be of a character exceedingly- 
weak, inefficient, and fruitless. No one attribute 
alone, and no partial combination of attributes, can 
command and bring into action all the energies 
and resources of Omnipotence. Were Justice, for 
instance, to demand a course of procedure in regard 
to man, that Goodness or Wisdom would not consent 
to, it could not call to its aid the entire Power of 
the Most High. Wisdom and Goodness would for- 
bid and restrain the exercise of that Power — there 
would be division and distraction in the councils of 
heaven — which could but result in inefficiency and 
disappointment. Or if it were possible, on the 
other hand, that Goodness or Mercy were to require 
that which Justice could not consent to, the same 
division would accrue, and the same result follow. 
It is, thence, a matter self-evident, that the unani- 
mous acquiescence and cooperation of all the attri- 
butes is requisite, in order that the Deity may form 
a definite and efficient Will. And equally evident 
is it that this harmony does actually exist in regard 
to every subject on which God forms a Will. 



man's will compared with the will of god. 

It is very certain that man's Will is subject to 
great imperfection, both in regard to its composition 
and its efficiency. It is sometimes formed under 



WILL OF GOD. 



177 



the influence of blind passion — in hot haste, before 
the reflective powers have an opportunity to delib-. 
erate and decide upon the propriety of the proce- 
dure — and when put into immediate execution, often 
produces results the most disastrous. But when a 
Will thus formed, is delayed in its execution, and 
there is opportunity for all the faculties of the mind 
to come into deliberate action upon the case, the 
original Will is often much modified in its character, 
and not unfrequently entirely abandoned. The 
amount and character of the influence which the 
reflective faculties exert upon the Will, depends 
altogether upon their cultivation, and the degree of 
light and purity which they possess. Great igno- 
rance, united to strong passions, renders the Will but 
a blind determination, to which the higher powers 
of the mind, from their weakness and darkness, 
present but very little opposition, and upon which 
they can effect but trifling modification. Man's 
Will is also frequently formed under the influence 
of erroneous views, and unsound premises. These 
may hold out a false light to the mental and moral 
powers, and deceive them into an approbation, which 
would not have been yielded had they possessed a 
perfect understanding of the case. Thus the Will 
of man is not only imperfect in its nature, but from 
this very imperfection, it is uncertain of execution. 
Sometimes it is wholly frustrated — at other times it 
is but partially fulfilled — and occasionally only, 
completely accomplishes its object. 

But none of these imperfections can reasonably . 
be supposed to be attached to the Will of God. 



178 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



There is no rashness, no passion, no inconsiderate 
haste, no blind impulse, in the nature of the Most 
High, to enter into the composition of his Will. 
Neither is it possible for that Will to be formed on 
any misapprehension of facts, false premises, erro- 
neous suppositions, or unfounded expectations. His 
Will must be created by the calm, enlightened and 
legitimate action of all his attributes. Each prompt- 
ing its own natural suggestion, and contributing its 
proper quota, and all meeting and mingling har- 
moniously together, upon any given project, they 
form that distinct, enlightened and holy Purpose or 
Determination, which is denominated his Will. 

THE ATTRIBUTES CONSENT TO MAN's CREATION. 

In illustration of the combination of the attributes 
in forming God's Will, we may look at it, in regard 
to the creation of the human family. It may ra- 
tionally be conjectured that the Infinite Goodness 
of God first promjyted the thought of creating a 
race of intelligent beings, whose existence should 
commence on the earth, and continue through eter- 
nity. In suggesting this work, the attribute of 
Goodness had no other design, but to produce beings 
so circumstanced that they would be legitimate ob- 
jects towards whom it could gratify the delightful 
promptings of its own nature, by showering bless- 
ings and favors, in boundless and endless prolusion, 
upon them all. It would be totally in contradiction 
to its nature, to prompt to creation with any differ- 
ent motive. This benevolent and lovely suggestion 



WILL OF GOD. 



179 



of God's great moral attribute of Goodness, so con- 
sonant with its nature, and so worthy of its charac- 
ter, was then submitted, it may be supposed, to the 
unclouded eye, and the mature investigation, of 
infinite Wisdom. This scrutiny was purely a men- 
tal one — as Wisdom is solely an intellectual faculty. 
It took into consideration, not the right or wrong of 
the proposed undertaking, but simply its 'practica- 
bility — looked into the nature of the case — scrutin- 
ized all its bearings, from the beginning to the con- 
summation — saw and examined every possible ob- 
stacle that would, or could, intervene to retard or 
prevent the completion of the design — beheld the 
relapse of man into sin, and the ways and means 
by which this moral malady could be healed, and 
humanity restored to purity. If in this examina- 
tion, the Wisdom of God discovered any obstacle 
whatever, that could intervene and 'prevent the con- 
summation of the design of Goodness in regard to a 
single human being — if it saw that in any case, and 
through any cause, creatures whom Goodness desired 
to exist that they might become the happy recipients 
of its blessings, would finally be involved in ever- 
lasting despair and wretchedness — if it perceived 
that through the imperfections, frailties, ignorance or 
blindness, incident to the incipient stage of their ex- 
istence passed on the earth, they would fall into a 
state of sin and alienation, from which nothing 
could relieve or save them — then infinite Wisdom 
would not have yielded its assent to the proposition 
of Goodness. It would have said emphatically — 
"It cannot be done! However much Goodness 



180 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



may desire the creation of beings to be happy for- 
ever, it is impossible for such a plan to be carried 
into effect ! Millions will fall into wretchedness 
without end; and no scheme I can devise, can pos- 
sibly save them from that doom, or avert their awful 
fate ! Such would have been the decision of Wis- 
dom, provided it had foreseen that these obstacles 
to the accomplishment of the desires of Infinite 
Goodness, would intervene. And this decision 
would have prevented the creation of man. For it 
cannot be supposed that the Deity would form a 
Will to do that from which his Wisdom dissents, 
and which, indeed, it peremptorily declares cannot 
be done. Goodness itself would have objected to 
the creation of man, as decidedly as Wisdom, when 
it became assured that such creation would result 
in the infinite misery of a part, or even of one soul 
of humanity. Hence in case Wisdom had foreseen 
these disastrous results, (as it inevitably must if 
they ever can occur,) the human race would have 
been allowed to sleep on forever in the unconscious 
repose of nonentity. 



WISDOM DECIDES ITS PRACTICABILITY. 

But if Wisdom, in scrutinizing the plan of man's 
creation, from the first movement to the final con- 
summation, saw no insurmountable obstacles — or if, 
in other words, Wisdom, in glancing through all the 
operations necessary to produce the final result de- 
signed by Goodness, saw that mankind could be 
formed rational and moral beings — saw they could 



WILL OF GOD. 



181 



be endowed with a good degree of freedom of ac- 
tion, and intrusted with a wide sphere of self-con- 
trol — and although in the imperfect exercise of this 
freedom, through the ignorance and imperfection 
which is incident to their early existence, they gen- 
erally, and to a greater or less extent, would give 
way to temptation and fall into sin — yet that from 
this subjection to sin they could all be delivered, 
with souls strengthened, enlarged and enlightened, 
by the moral discipline through which they will 
have passed, and brought up to higher and happier 
stages of existence, where Infinite Goodness could 
forever pour out the full tide of its blessings upon 
all, with no sin, no evil, no pain, in the universe, to 
interrupt the general harmony and felicity — if Wis- 
dom foresaw that all this could be done, then it 
would yield its full and free assent to the prompting 
of God's Goodness, and uniting with that attribute, 
would exclaim — " Let man be created ! " 

JUSTICE WEIGHS THE MORAL CHARACTER OF THE 
TRANSACTION. 

The union and assent, however, of both Goodness 
and Wisdom, would be insufficient for God to form 
his infinite Will to create man. Another attribute 
— Justice — must have a voice in this infinitely 
momentous question. Justice would take into con- 
sideration the right or the ivrong of the transaction. 
If the proposition was to create a race of beings 
without allowing them the exercise of choice, either 
as to the description of creatures they should be 



182 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



formed, or the circumstances under which they 
should exist, or the kind of world or worlds which 
they should inhabit — and while denying them all 
choice, all part or lot in the decision of these (to 
them) unspeakably important matters, to go on 
and create them frail, ignorant, erring beings, with 
bodies filled with passions liable to lead them to 
sin, and place them in a world full of temptations to 
excite these passions to sinful excess — and then, 
because they do fall into sin, plunge them into tor- 
ments that shall endure as long as eternity, with no 
efforts to their reformation, except such as can be 
made in the brief period of threescore and ten 
years; and all this, too, while clearly foreseeing 
from the commencement, that precisely such would 
be the result of the existence of these creatures — if 
such were the proposition submitted to Justice, it 
would indignantly render its response — "No! I 
cannot consent to such a plan ! So far from being 
right, it would be the concentrated essence of every- 
thing wrong, evil and cruel I " If Justice were not 
to return such a reply, it would deny its own nature, 
and become infinitely unjust to the prompting of 
its own eternal principles of right! But being a 
principle of even-handed equity and right, such 
would have been its answer. And hence, the attri- 
bute of Justice dissenting, no Will could have been 
formed in the divine Mind, to create the human 
family. 

But if the design was of a different descrip- 
tion — if it was proposed in the councils of heaven, 
to create mankind frail and subject to evil and sin, 



WILL OF GOD. 



183 



and yet endowed with faculties in the exercise of 
which, in due season, they all would, under the wise 
supervision and action of God's righteous laws, be 
brought up to more perfect scenes of existence, 
where they should participate forever in happiness, 
the enjoyment of which during a single hour would 
more than compensate them for all the evils neces- 
sarily incident to their earthly subjection to imper- 
fection — then Justice would freely yield its assent 
to the plan, and would exclaim — " I consent — be it 
done ! " 

THE ASSENT OF MERCY. 

The elements for a Will in God, to create the 
human race, would, however, be still imperfect. 
Mercy, the radiance of whose countenance sheds 
the brightest and sweetest light upon the happy 
dwellers in heaven, must have a voice in this mo- 
mentous plan. Had it been the design submitted 
for its sanction, to have formed mankind under such 
circumstances, that through any cause whatever — 
whether by the rigid and stern determination and 
purpose of God, or by the operation of any respon- 
sibility or action in the creature — a portion would 
fall into " the blackness of darkness forever," it 
would never have yielded its consent to the project ! 
"Why create at all," it would exclaim, " under such 
circumstances ? Why persist in urging unconscious 
beings into existence, when it is so well seen and 
known, that after a few brief years, they will be 
plunged into torments and agonies that shall never 
cease ? Why not allow those whose creation would 
16 



184 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



terminate thus awfully, to repose forever in blank 
nonentity ? Can unformed and unconscious be- 
ings have offended Infinite Malignity, that they 
must be accursed into such an existence, and to such 
a doom ? I object ! I declare against it ! Before 
all heaven — before the Universe — I record my sol- 
emn, my eternal Protest in opposition to the cruel 
design ! " If there is a principle of Mercy in the 
Most High, such we may believe, would have been 
its course, had it been possible that such a proposi- 
tion could have been submitted to it. To have 
willed then, to form man under these circumstan- 
ces, would have been an impossibility, even in God; 
because the attributes must all harmonize before a 
definite and effective Will can be formed. 

On the other hand, if it had been proposed to 
usher into being a race of humanity, which, after 
having been carried through various mutations, and 
numerous stages of existence — after having been 
subject to all the claims of infinite Justice, both in 
the punishments it inflicts and rewards it bestows — 
should each receive the gift of immortal felicity — 
then Mercy could legitimately and joyfully yield its 
consent to man's existence. All it could desire for 
sentient beings would be insured and confirmed, 
and it would rejoice that countless multitudes were 
to be formed, around whom it could throw its lov- 
ing embrace forever! 

POWER ABLE TO EXECUTE. 

The attributes of God, thus meeting and uniting 
harmoniously, in relation to the nature, the circum- 



WILL OF GOD. 



185 



stances and the result of man's creation — Goodness 
prompting that the race should be formed for uni- 
versal and endless felicity — Wisdom deciding that it 
is feasible, and devising ways and means to accom- 
plish it — Justice approving it as right and good — 
and Mercy gladly consenting for so new and wide a 
field for the display of its divine gifts — this union 
produces a Will, a Determination, in Jehovah to 
put the glorious plan into execution — and Omnipo- 
tent Power is abundantly able to carry it forward 
to a triumphant and happy consummation ! 

In this manner, or in a way something similar to 
this, it may be conceived the attributes of God 
were combined in the formation of a Will to create 
man, provided the Deity had any definite Will in 
relation to the matter. And it cannot be supposed 
he would engage in a work so unspeakably important 
as the ushering of innumerable multitudes of senti- 
ent beings into endless existence, without some defi- 
nite Will in regard to them. To believe he com- 
menced such a work without any Will, is to believe 
he acts with even less intelligence and circumspec- 
tion than his creatures. Man, in the most unculti- 
vated condition in which he can be found, does not 
engage in an undertaking of an important charac- 
ter, without acting under the sanction of a Will 
definitely formed. The brute, led as he is by blind 
instinct, may act without a Will. But where action 
is governed by intelligence, that intelligence must 
take the form of Will, especially in all deliberate 
undertakings. As intelligence belongs to Jehovah 
x in an infinite degree, and inasmuch as it cannot be 



186 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



supposed he rushed to the creation of man, without 
reflection or foresight, the least that can be admit- 
ted in regard to the transaction is, that God must 
have had some distinct Will to accomplish in this 
work. Not only a Will to create a race of intelli- 
gences, but a Will to create them for some definite 
purpose, some clearly defined, absolutely certain, 
and unalterably fixed destiny, or end! An intelli- 
gent Will is formed with an express reference to the 
end or result of the undertaking, as well as to its 
commencement and progress. 

THE MORAL CHARACTER OF GOD's WILL. 

The moral character of a Will or Determination 
depends entirely upon the nature of the being who 
forms it. Could the existence of an infinitely Evil 
Spirit be imagined, whose attributes were Partial- 
ity, Hatred, Cruelty, and Revenge, it would ration- 
ally be concluded any Will he might form would 
partake of the nature of these attributes. Were 
such a being to Will to form a race of creatures, it 
could logically be urged that his object was to fur- 
nish himself with beings towards whom he could 
exercise those feelings of hatred and malice, natu- 
rally prompted by his attributes. It could then be 
legitimately urged that such a being, in ushering 
creatures into existence, willed and determined that 
they, or at least a large portion of them, (especial 
favorites perhaps excepted,) should in some way, 
become endlessly wretched, and that he formed them 
deliberately determining, or clearly foreseeing, such 



WILL OF GOD. 



187 



to be the final result of their being. An argument 
of this description would be well-founded in reason, 
would be logical, conclusive and irrefutable. It 
would establish, beyond all cavil and all reasonable 
doubt, the doctrine of endless woe. An attempt to 
prove the theory of a final reign of universal holiness 
and happiness, in a universe created and presided 
over by this malignant being — or an endeavor to 
show that in forming his creatures, he would or 
could Will their final and everlasting purity and 
bliss — would be an effort as lacking in consistency 
and reason, as it would be utterly futile and fruit- 
less ! Let the premises once be clearly established 
— let the existence of a God of this evil nature, with 
these accursed attributes, be distinctly proved — and 
the sentiment of eternal wretchedness, to be inflicted 
on the beings he has formed, would be a doctrine 
, indisputably established. No skill, or art, or soph- 
istry, could invalidate or weaken the argument on 
which that doctrine would rest ! 

THE CREATOR NOT A BEING OF EVIL. 

But thanks be to heaven ! — glorious, soul-sustain- 
ing truth ! — such is not the God who created the 
heavens, and earth, and all things therein — such is 
not the character of Him who is the Father of the 
spirits of all flesh, and in whose keeping alone is 
the everlasting destiny of every being! No; he 
who is our Creator and our God — he whose right 
and duty it is to determine what shall be the future 
and eternal condition of his own offspring — is a be- 
16* 



188 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



ing whose nature is infinite Love — "God is Love." 1 
He is truly and emphatically "the God of Love and 
Peace." 2 His attributes are Goodness, Wisdom, 
Justice, Mercy. Hence the "dhe only living and 
true God," is in reality — (O, glorious reality!) — a 
being directly the opposite,* in every characteristic, 
and in every possible respect, of the Evil One whose 
existence was above supposed. Now let the inquiry 
be seriously and deliberately made — Can it be rea- 
sonably believed that the true God would deliber- 
ately create the beings he ushers into existence, un- 
der the influence of the same description of Will, 
and for the same purpose and destiny, as an infi- 
nitely evil being? It has been seen to be a rational 
and logical conclusion, that a God whose attributes 
and nature were wholly evil and malignant, would 
create beings, expressly determining, or clearly fore- 
seeing, their unmitigated and endless agony. Is it 
a rational and logical conclusion, that a God of an 
opposite character, a " God of Love," would form 
beings, equally determining, or equally foreseeing, 
the same awfully horrible doom ? Are the princi- 
ples of Love and Evil to be confounded together ? 
Are their influences and fruits the same? Can it 
be supposed a God of Infinite Love, and a God of 
Infinite Evil, would act precisely alike in a given 
case ? To respond in the affirmative, is to destroy 
all distinction in moral principle, and to reduce our- 
selves to the level of the brutes. If it is consistent 
to believe that a God of Evil would form the most 
of his creatures (favorites excepted) determining, or 



1 1 John iv. 8. 



2 2 Cor. xiii. 11. 



WILL OF GOD. 



189 



knowing, that through certain means, they would 
become plunged into interminable torments, is it 
equally consistent to believe, a God of Goodness, 
Mercy, and compassion, would create beings deter- 
mining or foreseeing the same destiny ? If not — if 
the two beings would act on totally different prin- 
ciples in creating, and pursue courses in entirely 
opposite directions, and form beings for purposes 
and destinies infinitely diverse — in what manner 
would this immense disparity be manifested ? Could 
it be manifested in any other way, than that while 
the God of Evil would form the most of his crea- 
tures for infinite sin, darkness and woe, the "God 
of Love" would usher his creatures into existence, 
deliberately determining, and distinctly foreseeing, 
that every soul would finally enter upon the en- 
joyment of immortal and eternal purity and hap- 
piness? What other possible moral distinction 
could there be between the purposes, or the final 
results, of the works of these two beings? The 
reader is most respectfully urged to give these in- 
quiries a calm and deliberate consideration. 



PETITION OF AN ANGEL OF DARKNESS. 

It being an universally admitted truth that "God 
is Love," and that his attributes are goodness, wis- 
dom, justice, mercy and power, a supposition may 
be introduced in illustration of our subject. Let it 
be imagined that while the purpose and plan of 
man's creation were in contemplation and unde- 
cided upon, in the councils of heaven, two angels 



190 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



approached and addressed the Most High. The 
first is an angel of Darkness. He speaks : — u Om- 
nipotent God, who hast at thy disposal the everlast- 
ing destiny of the race of beings now about to be 
formed, and who alone canst determine whether the 
existence to be conferred shall prove an endless evil 
or an endless blessing ! I beseech you, create man- 
kind with a settled Determination, Will and Decree, 
that unnumbered millions of them shall be plunged 
into agonies indescribable, there to wail and suffer 
as long as eternity endures ! Or, if it would not be 
consistent for thee thus to determinately Decree 
and Will, I pray thee, create them weak and igno- 
rant — give them bodies full of passions that can 
easily be excited to excess — place them in a world 
where they will be continually surrounded with 
temptations, which thou knowest they will give 
way to — give them freedom of will to sin or not, as 
they please, whilst thou distinctly perceivest they 
will abuse this freedom and fall into wickedness — 
place their everlasting destiny in their own keeping, 
dependent upon the operations of their own erring 
minds and wayward feelings, and call upon them 
to choose life or death — yet be careful to do all this, 
I beseech thee, with a clear foresight and knowledge 
that this plan will certainly result in the endless 
wretchedness of much the greater portion of the 
race ! It mattereth little to me, O Sovereign Crea- 
tor, whether man is lost forever, as the effect of thy 
deliberate decree, or as the effect of his own sins — 
only be sure to form the race with a positive knowl- 
edge that, in some way, large portions shall experi- 



WILL OF GOD. 



191 



ence unmitigated and unending pains, and / am 
satisfied!" Such is the petition of the angel of 
Darkness. 

PETITION OF AN ANGEL OF LIGHT. 

But an angel of Light draws near the Throne of 
heaven, and in a voice of thrilling melody, utters 
this prayer: — "Listen not, I beseech thee, O God 
of Love, to the petition of the angel of Darkness ; 
but listen rather to the promptings of thine own 
infinite Goodness. If it be according to the dic- 
tates of thy unerring Wisdom so to create the hu- 
man race that their existence must commence in 
imperfection, ignorance, and an exposure to evil and 
sin, yet let their subjection to the same be made in 
express view of a deliverance therefrom. Endow 
them, Gracious Spirit, with souls upon which thine 
own divine image shall be enstamped — souls which, 
although liable to give way to temptation, and fall 
into sin, shall still contain faculties that can be ap- 
pealed to, and brought into an activity that shall 
result in their emancipation from sin and ignorance, 
and their elevation to high degrees of purity and 
love. And thus, Holy Creator, allow their subjec- 
tion to sin, and the discipline through which they 
may be called to pass in consequence of the same, 
under thy wise government, to strengthen their 
souls more and more in moral principles, and impart 
a constantly increasing ability to exercise higher 
degrees of moral freedom, until, through such means 
of instruction, purification and sanctification, as 
thou shalt be pleased to grant both in their earthly 



192 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



and their subsequent stages of existence, they shall 
universally be made fit for thy blessed presence, 
and crowned with immortal holiness and felicity ! 
Let not evil, I implore thee, triumph forever over thy 
offspring ; but through the mediation and reign of 
thy dear Son, cause sin and death to be annihi- 
lated, and salvation and peace to reign triumphant 
throughout the universe !" 

ANSWER TO THESE PETITIONS. 

Here are two petitions supposed to be addressed 
to the Most High. The former is opposed to every 
characteristic and every attribute in the Divine Na- 
ture — and the latter accords most perfectly, in all 
possible respects, with the whole circle of God's at- 
tributes — beseeches him to do what every principle 
and emotion in his character prompts td have done ! 
Which of these petitions is it reasonable to suppose 
he would grant? Upon which would he proceed 
to form the Will or Determination to create the hu- 
man race? If he would grant that petition which 
is opposed to his attributes, then, and not until then, 
the doctrine of infinite evil and endless ruin and 
woe, will prove true. But if he would grant that 
which agrees and harmonizes with all his attributes, 
and which alone can bring them into perfect coop- 
eration with each other, then the doctrine of the 
ultimate salvation of the entire family of man, rests 
upon the same foundation with the existence and 
attributes of Jehovah ! But these questions are 
unnecessary. There can be no doubt in a reason- 
ing mind, that God would grant that petition only 



WILL OF GOD. 



193 



which accorded with his own nature and perfections. 
And upon the petition of the angel of Light and 
Love, or rather upon the principles embodied in that 
petition, it may be consistently believed that Will 
of God was formed which resulted in the creation 
of mankind. 

SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY IN REGARD TO GOD's WILL. 

These deductions of reason as to the Will of 
God, respecting man's creation, are fully sustained 
and corroborated by the most emphatic declarations 
of the Scriptures. While it is nowhere declared or 
intimated in the Bible, that God ever Willed that 
his creatures should fall into endless sin and misery, 
it is distinctly and repeatedly asserted that he Wills 
the final repentance and salvation of all men. The 
language of the Saviour in respect to the Will of 
God, throws instructive and convincing light on 
this point. "All that the Father giveth me shall 
come to me ; and him that cometh to me I will in 
no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, 
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent 
me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent 
me, that of all which he hath given me I should 
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last 
day." 1 How many has the Father given to his 
Son? — 11 All things are delivered unto me of my 
Father." 2 "The Father loveth the Son, and hath 
given all things into his hand." 3 "Ask of me, and 
I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, 



1 John vi. 37—39. 8 Matt. xi. 27. 3 John iii. 35. 



194 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses- 
sion." 1 When this brief but comprehensive and 
emphatic testimony is summed up, its evidence 
cannot be misunderstood. It declares that all things 
have been given to Christ — that it is God's Will that 
of all he had given to his Son, he should lose noth- 
ing — that Christ came down from heaven to do 
this Will of God — and that consequently all that 
the Father gave the Son [all things — the heathen — 
the uttermost parts of the earth] shall come unto 
him, and shall not be cast out ! 

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE WILL OF GOD BY THE APOSTLES. 

The apostles, in speaking of the Will of God, 
describe it in perfect accordance with the above tes- 
timony of the Saviour. — " Having made known 
unto us the mystery of his Will, according to his 
good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself : 
that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he 
might gather together in one, all things in Christ, 
both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, 2 
even in him." 3 This language of St. Paul declares 

1 Ps. ii. 8. 

2 It is the testimony of Archbishop Newcome, Professor Stu- 
art, and other eminent linguists, that the Scripture phrases — 
" all things in heaven, and on earth," and " things in heaven, 
earth, and under the earth," are Hebrew forms of speech, 
signifying " all persons, all intelligent beings." Dr. Adam Clarke 
makes the following declaration in relation to this phraseology : — 
ft It is usual with the Hebrews, and indeed with all ancient nations, 
to express by things in heaven, things on earth, and things under 
the earth, all beings of all kinds; universal nature."— Com. on 
Phil. ii. 11. 

3 Eph. i. 9, 10. 



WILL OF GOD. 



195 



that it is the Will of God to gather all things to- 
gether into One. And that there might be no mis- 
understanding who this One is, into whom all hu- 
manity are to be finally gathered, he designates 
him, viz., " Christ." The meaning being the same 
as though the Apostle had written — (what indeed, 
may be considered the true translation) — " that in 
the dispensation of the fulness of times, he might 
gather all things together into one — i. e., into Christ."' 
And to make his meaning doubly evident, he reit- 
erates the universality of this gathering, and repeats 
also that it is to be in Christ — that "he might 
gather all things together into One — i. e., into Christ 
— all things both which are in heaven, and which 
are on earth, even to gather them into him — 
Christ." What effect is wrought upon all who 
are brought into Christ? Let the Apostle describe 
it — u If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: 
old things are passed away; behold, all things are 
become new." 1 

St. Peter describes the Will of God in peculiar 
language, as perfectly according with the principles 
above laid down — " The Lord is not slack concern- 
ing his promise, as some men count slackness ; but 
is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any 
should perish, but that all should come to repent- 
ance." 2 The Apostle first declares what is not the 
Will of God — it is not his Will that any should per- 
ish. He then asserts what the actual Will of God 
is, viz., it is his Will that all men should come to 
repentance. 

1 2 Cor. v. 17. 8 2 Pet. iii. 9. 

17 



196 ARGUMENTS FROM THE 

In language still more plain, if possible — yea, in 
language the force of which cannot be evaded — 
St. Paul lays before us the Will of God. He de- 
clares emphatically that God "WILL have all men 
to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the 
truth ! " 1 The metaphysical distinctions in the Will 
of God, which are sometimes attempted to be made, 
do not weaken in the slightest degree the force of 
the evidence afforded by this passage. Whether 
this Will is a will of desire^ or a will of determina- 
tion^ the weight of the testimony is the same. For 
in an infinitely perfect God, how can desire or will- 
ingness exist, without a determination to accomplish 
that which is desired? To contend that Jehovah 
desires that to take place which he does not, or can- 
not determine shall take place, is to contend that he 
is unsatisfied and unhappy. His desire would be 
greater than his resources ; hence he would be im- 
perfect — and desire unsatisfied, necessarily produces 
unhappiness ! But this state of things cannot per- 
tain to the Deity. In a perfect God, to desire is to 
will — and to ivill is to accomplish. 

ACKNOWLEDGED THAT GOd's WILL IS TO SAVE ALL 

OBJECTIONS. 

It is thus established by the Divine Word that 
God has deliberately Willed or Determined that all 
men shall be saved and come unto the knowledge 
of the truth. This fact is so emphatically declared 
in the Scriptures, that few are now disposed to 



1 1 Tim. ii. 4. 



WILL OF GOD. 



197 



question it. But to avoid the conclusion to which 
this truth plainly and directly leads, attempts are 
sometimes made to show that God's Will is not 
always accomplished. The argument is framed 
something in the following manner : " God not only 
wills that all men shall be saved and come unto the 
knowledge of the truth, but he also wills that all 
men shall repent now — shall turn from sin this hour. 
But all men do not now repent, and hence the Will of 
God in this respect is constantly being frustrated — 
and if frustrated in this prese?it purpose, it may also 
be frustrated in any future purpose for the salvation 
of all mankind ! " The whole gist of this argument 
is, that although God may Will to do any particu- 
lar work, yet it is not certain he will be able to 
accomplish that Will, and man can therefore put no 
great dependence upon it ! 



THE OBJECTION SUICIDAL. 

It is almost needless to remark, that this posi- 
tion is perfectly suicidal. It is destructive to all 
well-founded hope in God — quite as much so to 
the hopes of those who urge it, as of those against 
whom it is brought. If the Will of God is weak, 
defective and uncertain, upon what can human 
beings place their hopes of future immortality and 
endless felicity ? Man feels his own weakness and 
want of power — he realizes that he possesses within 
himself little ability to secure his present, and none 
to secure his future well-being and happiness. His 
only dependence for the blessings of the present life, 



198 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



and more especially for the life to come, is upon 
God. Not only upon the goodness and mercy of 
the Creator — not only upon his willingness to bless 
his dependent creatures — but upon his ability to do 
so — upon his 'power to put- into execution the holy 
and blessed designs he may form towards the chil- 
dren of earth. Whatever, therefore, detracts from 
the ability of Jehovah — whatever weakens the con- 
fidence of mankind in his resources, and his Power 
to accomplish whatsoever he Wills to do — under- 
mines the whole superstructure of Christian faith 
and hope, and leaves the world afloat upon the tem- 
pestuous sea of uncertainty. 

If there is any doubt as to the ability of God to 
accomplish his declared Will, to save the world, 
then the same doubt must rest upon his ability to 
save a part of the world, or even a soul of human- 
ity. For this is a matter over which Deity himself 
has no control. It cannot be supposed he volunta- 
rily makes himself unable to accomplish the pur- 
poses of his Will. If this inability pertains to him, 
it is involuntary on his part — it is a deficiency which 
he would undoubtedly remove, if in his power — but 
is one which it is impossible for him to remedy. 
Hence this weakness is an imperfection which, de- 
spite his desire or his Will, is liable to affect all his 
purposes, to invalidate all his promises, and inter- 
rupt, yea, frustrate and ruin, every design he may 
cherish, whether great or small — whether towards 
all the race, or any portion of it — both in regard to 
the blessings of this life, and the happiness of eter- 
nity ! 



WILL OF GOD. 



199 



god's veracity pledged as strongly to save all, 

AS A PART. 

It may well be inquired of those who take the 
ground that God's Will is not always accomplished, 
and that therefore his Will to save all men, is no 
evidence that all will experience salvation, upon 
what ground they base their hope of their own sal- 
vation, or the salvation of any part of mankind? 
If it is said their hope rests on the promise of God 
to save the righteous, and to reward them for their 
piety and devotion, then it can be replied that he 
has no more plainly nor positively promised to save 
the righteous, than he has promised to bring all 
men to obedience, to reconciliation, to the knowl- 
edge of the truth, and to eventual salvation. The 
integrity of Jehovah is pledged as solemnly to fulfil 
the latter promises as the former. Upon what 
ground can a rational expectation rest of the fulfil- 
ment of one class of promises, that does not include 
the other class? What though God is desirous to 
fulfil his promise to save the righteous, and wills 
and determines to do so, on the ground we are no- 
ticing, there is no certainty that he can accomplish 
that Will. It is in vain to assert that our heavenly 
Father will see to it, and be positively certain to 
accomplish his promises to the righteous; because 
the uncertainty of the fulfilment of his promises 
arises not from any want of willingness on his part, 
but from an inherent, unavoidable inability — which 
inability is as liable to frustrate one class of prom- 
ises, or one kind of Will, as another. And what 
17* 



200 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



reason is there to believe the Creator is any more 
desirous to accomplish his promise to reward those 
who become righteous in this life, than his promise 
to save all men finally ? When the former promise 
was made, those who rest their hopes upon it had 
done nothing whereby to claim that it should be 
fulfilled, any more than the mass of the world, 
whose welfare is involved in the latter promise. If 
it is possible that God could be more desirous to 
fulfil one promise more than another, it is reasona- 
ble to believe he would be more disposed to accom- 
plish that which proposes a greater good, than 
that which aims at a lesser. And that the prom- 
ise to bring all the numberless generations of the 
human race to repentance of sin, to reconciliation 
with God, to immortal purity and happiness, is infi- 
nitely more important than any promise which aims 
to accomplish this desirable work upon a part only, 
is self-evident. Both promises have been made by 
the same God — both depend upon the same veracity, 
and the same ability in the Deity, for their accom- 
plishment. If there is any doubt that one may not 
be fulfilled, the same doubt must necessarily rest 
upon the other. If there is any certainty, any as- 
surance, any hope that God will redeem the one. 
the same certainty, assurance and hope can be en- 
tertained of the fulfilment of the other. Originating 
in the same Deity, and dependent upon the same 
Will, and the same resources, both descriptions of 
promise will be completed, or will perish together ! 



WILL OF GOD. 



201 



THE WILL OF GOD NEVER FRUSTRATED. 

The great deficiency in the objection under con- 
sideration is in the supposition that God's Will is 
ever frustrated in any respect. This is a viola- 
tion of all consistent views of a perfect Deity. It 
is undoubtedly the Will of the Creator, that sin- 
ners should repent; but that it is his Will that they 
should repent at any given hour or moment, is as- 
suming a point which should be proved. There is 
no evidence in support of this position. The Scrip- 
tures ascribe no general rule of this description to 
God. If it were indeed so, then the Will of the Om- 
nipotent Jehovah, it may be believed, has been frus- 
trated in numberless instances, every hour since the 
fall of Adam. Who can believe this in regard to 
that God, of whom it is said in the book of inspira- 
tion — u He doeth according to his Will in the ar- 
mies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the 
earth?" 

Neither is it necessary to run to the other extreme, 
and contend that it is God's Will that man shall sin. 
or that he shall remain a sinner any definite period 
of time. This position would be quite as untenable 
as the opposite. The Creator does not will any man 
into sinful acts. " Let no man say, when he is 
tempted, I am tempted of God : for God cannot be 
tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. 
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away 
of his own lust, and enticed. Then, when lust hath 
conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is 



202 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



finished, bringeth forth death." 1 The man who 
gives himself up to the supposition that God vnlls 
his sinful acts, and wills that he shall remain in sin 
for any given period of time, and that he cannot and 
need not reform, until some particular moment ar- 
rives, when God has willed he shall repent, is labor- 
ing under a dangerous delusion, which can be fruit- 
ful of nothing but evil and wretchedness ! 

A PLACE MUST EE ALLOWED FOR EXERCISE OF MAN'S 
FREEDOM. 

Between these two extremes in regard to the Will 
of the Most High, a place must be found for the 
exercise of man's freedom. However theorists may 
speculate, every man feels a consciousness that he 
possesses a certain amount of moral freedom, and 
constantly acts on this supposition through life. To 
lose sight of this limited human freedom, (be it more 
or less,) is to drop a link in the mysterious chain of 
God's wonder-working Providence, which nothing 
can supply, and which results in an extreme that 
experience, consciousness, and man's accountability 
equally reject. It is true, the precise point where 
the sovereignty of God's Will unites with the free- 
dom of man's will, is concealed or removed beyond 
human perception in this world. But that there is 
somewhere such an union, so that, like a wheel 
within a wheel, the Will of the creature and of the 
Creator act somewhat separately in human pro- 
ceedings, and yet also in conjunction, in more re- 
mote causes and results, is a position which it would 



1 James i. 13 — 15. 



WILL OF GOD. 



203 



seem must be admitted into the mind, although at 
present inexplicable in its nature. 

"But God o'errules all human follies still, 
And bends the tough materials to his Will." 

god's will and man's actions. 

It is in vain to attempt to reconcile or harmonize 
every act of every man through life, with the Will 
of God. This is a work many portions of which 
reach beyond the present limit of human capacity. 
It has been in vain efforts to discover the links 
which in all cases unite the actions of the creature 
with the Will of God, or the points where these 
links are supposed to be broken — in attempts to de- 
cide that this action accords with his Will, and that 
action is in opposition to it — that multitudes have 
been led into those crude and contradictory views of 
Sovereign Will, which reduce it to a principle 
weaker, if possible, and less to be depended upon, 
than even the will of man. 

" One part, one little part, we dimly scan, 
Through the dark medium of life's feverish dream, 
Yet dare arraign the whole stupendous plan, 
If but that little part incongruous seem : 
Nor is that part, perhaps, what mortals deem." 

To fathom these mysteries, and bring them out to a 
satisfactory solution, requires a depth of knowledge 
and an extent of perception, which has not been 
vouchsafed to man, in the present stage of exist- 
ence. All that the Scriptures reveal to us on this 
subject — all that reason will enable us to compre- 



204 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



hend — and all that it is essential for our welfare and 
peace to know, is this — That it is the Will of God 
that man should commence his existence in imper- 
fection and ignorance, but at the same time in the 
endowment of faculties of the most noble and val- 
uable description — faculties capable of being en- 
lightened and enlarged to an indefinite, if not an 
infinite extent, and in the exercise of which the soul 
can ascend to high degrees of perfection ; — that it 
is the Will of God that man shall exercise these fac- 
ulties in a certain degree of freedom or self-control, 
by which he may adopt or refuse, do right or wrong, 
according to the decisions of his mind, or the dic- 
tates of his conscience; — that it is the Will of God 
at the same time, to exercise over man, through 
Jesus Christ his Son, an equitable, righteous and 
wise moral government, which holds him account- 
able for the manner in which he uses the freedom 
intrusted to him, and administers just and whole- 
some chastisements for all known and wilful vio- 
lations of moral rectitude, and bestows rich rewards 
whenever he repents and performs actions that accord 
with truth and righteousness ; — that it is the Will 
of God so to constitute his government, and so to 
administer it by the Saviour, as that, under its influ- 
ences, all men shall finally become instructed, en- 
lightened, and purified, and shall progress, step by 
step, from ignorance and imperfection, up to an 
equality, in knowledge, holiness and bliss, with the 
angels which are in heaven ! All this we may, and 
do know of the Will of God — for all this has been 
revealed in the Scriptures of divine inspiration. 



WILL OF GOD. 



205 



But more than this, what can we know in this life 1 
And more than this, what need we know ! Here is 
amply enough to warn man of the danger of sin — 
to lead and encourage him into the practice of right- 
eousness — and here, too, is amply enough to afford 
a broad and deep foundation for the cherishing of 
every hope and desire that the Christian and phi- 
lanthropist can wish to entertain for himself and 
for his race ! 

SCRIPTURE PROOF OF THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF GOD'S 
WILL. 

Whatever diversity of opinion may exist in re- 
gard to points above discussed, of one thing there 
can be no question, viz., that God has distinctly 
revealed it in the Scriptures as his Will, that "all 
men shall be saved, and come unto the knowledge 
of the truth." How unreasonable, and how fatal 
to all faith and all hope, it is to doubt the ability of 
the Most High to accomplish his Will, has already 
been demonstrated. The Scriptures place this sub- 
ject entirely at rest, in the mind of every individual 
who acknowledges their authority. Their evidence 
that God is abundantly, infinitely, able to complete 
the purposes of his Will, is uncommonly clear and 
explicit. No truth of the Bible is revealed more dis- 
tinctly. St. Paul ascribes these words to the Re- 
deemer — " Lo I come, (in the volume of the book it 
is written of me,) to do thy Will, O God." 1 Jesus 
himself exclaims — "I came down from heaven, not 



» Heb. x. 7. 



206 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



to do mine own will, but the Will of him that sent 
me." 1 And again — " My meat is to do the Will of 
him that sent me, and to finish his work." 2 As 
Christ came to do the Will of God, it is evident that 
God's Will can and will be done. It is not to be sup- 
posed that the Father would send his Son, or that 
Jesus Christ would consent to come into the world, 
to do that which could not, or would not be done ! 
And moreover, if Christ came to do the Will of God 
and to finish his work, then he assuredly came to 
save all men, and bring them unto the knowledge 
of the truth : — for this, and nothing less than this, 
as we have seen, is the Will of God. That the 
Saviour came to accomplish this Will of the Crea- 
tor, agrees with other declarations made by Christ. 
" God sent not his Son into the world to condemn 
the world ; but that the world through him might 
be saved." 3 " I came not to judge the world, but to 
save the world." 4 "And I, if I be lifted up from 
the earth, will draw all men unto me." 5 It is seen 
by these quotations, how perfectly the Will of God 
and the mission of Christ agree. God willed to save 
all men — Christ came to do that Will — to save the 
world ! 



The testimony of the Scriptures in regard to the 
fulfilment of God's Will, can be found in still more 
explicit and emphatic language. St. Paul declares 
that God "worketh all things after the counsel of 



STILL MORE EXPLICIT DECLARATIONS. 



1 John vi. 38. 
4 John xii. 47. 



2 John iv. 34. 
5 John xii. 32. 



3 John xii. 17. 



WILL OF GOD. 



207 



his own Will." 1 If it is true that God worketh all 
things according to his Will, then it is evidently 
untrue that his Will is ever frustrated. In support 
of the same truth is the language recorded by the 
prophet Daniel — H He doeth according to his Will 
in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants 
of the earth ; and none can stay his hand, or say 
unto him, what doest thou?" 2 This testimony is 
even more convincing, if possible, because it enters 
more into detail. It asserts that God does his Will 
in heaven. This, all acknowledge ; but, while mak- 
ing this acknowledgment, it is at the same time 
contended by many, that he does not accomplish his 
Will among men on the earth. It will be perceived, 
however, that the words of inspiration assert as 
positively that the Will of God is accomplished 
among the inhabitants of earth, as in the army 
of heaven. If the one declaration is literally true, 
so must the other be. And to confirm the truth 
that Jehovah has abundant ability to accomplish 
the purposes of his Will, at all times, and in all 
worlds, it is declared that no subordinate being can 
interpose a will or exert a power, that can thwart 
the designs of the Most High, or that can even 
question with any effect the movements of his infi- 
nitely perfect Providence — "None can stay his 
hand, or say unto him, what doest thou?" But to 
put at rest in the mind of every believer in the Di- 
vine Existence, all doubt as to his abundant ability 
to complete his Will to the uttermost, Jehovah him- 



*Eph. i. 11. 
18 



2 Dan. iv. 35. 



208 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



self speaks directly and conclusively to this point : 
" I am God, and there is none else ; I am God, and 
there is none like me; declaring the end from the 
beginning, and from ancient times the things that 
are not yet done, saying, My counsel SHALL 
stand , and I WILL do all my pleasure" 1 The 
reader will mark the emphatic language of God. 
He does not declare that he simply desires to accom- 
plish the purpose of his Will, or that he endeavors 
to do it; but his words are in the imperative or pos- 
itive mode — " My counsel shall stand — I will do all 
my pleasure." 

SUMMING UP OF SCRIPTURE TESTIMONY. 

The summing up of the Scripture testimony in 
regard both to the nature and the accomplishment 
of the Will of God, is brief and conclusive. The 
divine Word asserts that God hath willed to gather 
all things into Christ — hath willed that all men 
shall be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the 
truth ! Christ proclaims to us that he came to do 
the Will of God ! The prophet insists that the 
great I Am doeth his Will in heaven, and among 
the inhabitants of the earth, and that there is no 
power able to resist him ! And God himself de- 
clares that his counsel shall stand, and he will do all 
his pleasure ! Where, then, is there room for unbe- 
lief? Who can yet be faithless? What point is 
there remaining in regard to this subject, upon 
which a doubt can rest ? What rational mind, wil- 
ling to give the slightest heed to the deductions of 
1 Isa. xlvi. 9, 10. 



WILL OF GOD. 



209 



his own reason, or disposed to submit to the de- 
cisions of the Scriptures, as the legitimate tribunal 
for the solving of all questions relating to man's 
duty and destiny, can, in view of this array of tes- 
timony, hesitate longer to rejoice in the belief that 
the entire race of man shall at last be brought into 
the kingdom of Christ — that all men shall be led to 
yield obedience to the divine law, be renovated from 
ignorance and sin, be permitted to participate in 
immortal light and purity, and to delight forever in 
an upward flight in truth and joy? Is not a con- 
tinuance in doubt, with the clear light of this truth 
beaming upon the mind, a disparagement of the 
voice of reason — a questioning of the truth of the 
Scriptures, and an ungenerous and ungrateful dis- 
trust of the wisdom, goodness, and ability of the 
Father of spirits 1 

11 To lift us from this abject, to sublime ; 
This flax, to permanent ; this dark, to day ; 
This foul, to pure ; this turbid, to serene ; 
This mean, to mighty ! — for this glorious end 
The Almighty, rising, his long sabbath broke ! " 

THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF GOD's WILL NOT CONFINED 
TO THIS LIFE. 

The defect in most minds, which leads to doubt 
and unbelief in regard to a final reign of universal 
holiness and peace, is in being too hasty, too lim- 
ited, in estimating the time which God has allotted 
himself for the accomplishment of his Will and his 
purposes. Jehovah has at his command the entire 
duration of eternity, for the completion of his de- 



210 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



signs. Yet from this absolutely limitless duration, 
it is singularly supposed, he confines himself to 
threescore years and ten, (which is but a moment 
when compared with eternity,) to work out all 
those purposes towards each man, which fix his 
everlasting destiny. It is imagined that he selects 
this brief introductory period of human existence, 
when man is in the greatest imperfection, when he 
is involved in ignorance and blindness, subject to 
the passions and infirmities of the body, and sur- 
rounded by alluring temptations — to accomplish all 
he intends to do, to bring his offspring into a con- 
formity to his Will and the requirements of his 
moral government. If, during these brief years, 
and amid all these imperfections, God succeeds in 
working out his Will upon the children of men — if 
he succeeds in renovating the souls of his creatures, 
and making them fit, in this life, for the abodes of 
blessedness above — it is well. But if his efforts are 
not successful — if man is not made meet for the 
society of angels, when this fleeting space of time 
has elapsed, God abandons the work, and ceases all 
exertion to reform and elevate him, and allows him 
to fall into utter and endless ruin. In case of this 
disastrous result, it may well be supposed the Deity 
will exclaim — "It is done — my power, my wisdom, 
my resources, my love, are all exhausted — sin, mis- 
ery and death are triumphant — man, the offspring 
of God, the redeemed of Christ, is endlessly misera- 
ble, and hell resounds with shouts of victory ! " 
Not only is it supposed, that, at the close of man's 
short life on the earth, the Creator desists from all 



WILL OF GOD. 



211 



farther attempt to reform his creatures, but that he 
immediately changes his whole policy towards them, 
and places them where it is made impossible to re- 
pent — where they shall not even have the poor priv- 
ilege of becoming better, however much they may 
desire to do so. Death is supposed to cut short all 
the efforts of God, and Christ, and angels, for the 
elevation and improvement of mankind, and the 
character of each human being exactly as it then 
is, becomes stereotyped for eternity ! ! ! 

Singular infatuation ! unaccountable presump- 
tion ! that would fain crowd all the works and tri- 
umphs of Infinite Wisdom and Love into the nar- 
row circle of seventy years ! that would dream of 
exhausting the infinite energies and resources of 
Omnipotence, in the speck of time allotted to man 
below ! That the Scriptures give no countenance 
to these limitations of time and resources in the ac- 
complishment of the Will of God, must be well 
known to every reader of the holy word. The Bi- 
ble declares it to be his Will that all men shall be 
saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth. 
It moreover declares that he accomplishes his Will 
in all respects — "Who worketh all things after the 
counsel of his own Will." That his Will to bring all 
men to salvation and truth, is not fully completed 
in the present world, is evident to the senses of 
every man. But should this be considered as in- 
validating the plain declaration of the Scriptures — 
or as bringing into discredit the integrity of God, 
involved as it is in his pledged word — or as an evi- 
dence that his Will is frustrated in this important 
18* 



• 



212 ARGUMENTS FROM THE 

matter ? It should not, and it will not, in the mind 
of the enlightened believer in God. It only enlarges 
his comprehension of the sphere of the Deity's op- 
erations, and brings him unavoidably into the be- 
lief that whatever portion of God's Will is not 
accomplished in this life, will be completed in the 
world to come. Not that his Will has been frus- 
trated here, and must be remedied hereafter — for the 
Scriptures do not declare that God ever willed to 
save all men and bring them to the knowledge of 
the truth in this life — but that, in the great cycle of 
the Creator's providence, the time for the perfect 
accomplishment of this Will, is not to be expected in 
the brief period of human life below, but should be 
looked for "in the dispensation of the fulness of 
times" to come. 

" Thus heavenward all things tend. For all were once 
Perfect, and all must be at length restored. 
So God has greatly purposed • who would else 
In his dishonored works himself endure 
Dishonor, and be wronged without redress. 

THE OPERATIONS OF GOD's PROVIDENCE NOT RESTRICTED 
TO TIME OR PLACE. 

The Scriptures, so far from contradicting these 
views, support them. In no instance do they inti- 
mate that all God can do, or designs to do, for the 
improvement and salvation of the sinner, is accom- 
plished in this world. On the contrary they represent 
the Creator as acting according to his own " good 
pleasure" in these matters, as to time, occasion and 
place. They declare all " seasons and times " to be at 



WILL OF GOD. 



213 



his disposal, and assert that time with him is not to 
be reckoned as with man — " Beloved, be not ignorant 
of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a 
thousand years, and a thousand years, as one day." 1 
What consistent reason can be assigned why a Will 
so holy and lovely as that which designs the extinc- 
tion of all sin and evil, and the sanctification and 
happiness of the entire family of man, should not 
be carried on to an entire fulfilment in the life to 
come 1 Are the souls of sinners more precious here 
than they will be hereafter ? Is it any more desira- 
ble that the wicked should repent and turn to God 
here, than it will be hereafter ? If it is right that sin- 
ners should repent here, will it not be right for them 
to repent hereafter ? — and would it not be a great 
wrong to deprive them the privilege or opportunity 
so to do? If it manifests great goodness and mer- 
cy in God and in Christ to be interested in the sin- 
ner's welfare here, will not the same goodness and 
mercy inspire a similar interest in the life to come ? 
Can time or place change principles, or alter the 
purposes of infinite love and compassion? Is not 
Jehovah immutable and unchangeable in his nature? 
If " God is Love" to-day, will he not be Love for- 
ever? If his love leads him to shower blessings on 
all mankind in this life, will it not exert the same 
influence upon him through eternity? 

The plain dictates of reason afford the assurance 
that the Almighty would not prescribe to himself 
bounds, nor voluntarily rear obstacles which he 
foresaw would frustrate his own purposes. Time 

1 2 Pet. iii. 8. 



214 



ARGUMENTS FROM THE 



and place can possess no power, and work no influ- 
ence to prevent the accomplishment of the plans of 
Him who fills all space, and who comprehends eter- 
nity as though it was now. 

"Eternity, with all its years, 
Stands present in thy view ; 
To thee there 's nothing old appears — 
Great God ! there 's nothing new" 

In working the counsels of his Will, he chooses his 
own time and his own place. And although it may 
sometimes appear to the comprehension of mortals, 
that his Providence moves tardily, and even in a 
direction opposite to his declared Will and Purpose, 
yet let it be remembered that Infinite Wisdom 
guides the whole, and that the motions of all the 
counter-revolving wheels of this master-piece of 
heavenly mechanism, are governed by unerring 
laws, and are working together to produce at last 
one grand and glorious result — even the perfect ac- 
complishment of the Will of Him who is yet to be 
"all in all!" The humble Christian, who truly 
trusts in God, and exercises a lively and genuine 
faith in Jesus Christ, will upon this, as upon all 
other subjects, be only anxious to know distinctly 
what is GcoVs Will. And when he reads, in lan- 
guage clear and unequivocal, in the volume of in- 
spiration, that the Most High Wills that " all men 
shall be saved, and come unto the knowledge of 
the truth," it is enough — amply enough! He per- 
mits not himself to doubt for a moment the ability 
of Jehovah to complete his determinate purposes. 
But leaving to God to select his own times and sea- 



WILL OF GOD. 215 

sons, and to adopt his own ways and means, he 
exclaims, with a heart full of rejoicing at the trans- 
cendency glorious truth presented for his reception, 
" Lord, let thy Will be done ! " 

" In heaven, and earth, and air, and seas, 
He executes his firm decrees ; 
And by his saints, it stands confessed, 
That what he does is ever blessed." 



CONCLUSION. 



Our task is now completed. Each of the funda- 
mental Attributes of God has been examined can- 
didly and faithfully, as we trust, in especial refer- 
ence to the most important of all subjects, the ulti- 
mate destiny of the human race. It has been 
shown logically and clearly, it is believed, that each 
distinct Attribute, when considered in regard to its 
nature, its legitimate influence in the councils of 
the Most High, and its appropriate work in the 
movements of Divine Providence, establishes be- 
yond reasonable question, the truth of the doctrine 
of the final holiness and happiness of all mankind. 
This doctrine, it has been manifested also, is alone 
capable of reconciling the promptings and offices of 
the several Attributes together, and uniting them in 
a harmonious cooperation, for the successful execu- 
tion of the designs of Deity. And moreover, when 
these Attributes have been examined collectively ) as 
united together and forming the determinate Will of 
God, it has been shown, not only that each in this 
state of combination, retains all its former strength 
and weight in favor of this doctrine, but that their 
united testimony, presented in Jehovah's Will, sus- 
tains and confirms it, in a manner perfectly conclu- 
sive and unquestionable ! And what has the Chris- 
tian, who follows Revelation and Reason, the only 
lights which can lead to religious Truth, now to do. 
but to enter into the belief and enjoyment of this 
holy faith? It not only meets the demands and 
conforms to the decisions of unclouded Reason, and 



CONCLUSION. 



217 



receives the unequivocal sanction of God's revealed 
Word, but (sweet and refreshing test of its heav- 
enly origin,) it comes fully up to the purest desires 
and the highest aspirations, that can possibly enter 
the soul of man on earth, or of angel in heaven. 
What wish more elevated, more holy, more angelic, 
than for the renovation of universal humanity — 
the repentance, sanctiflcation, and happiness of the 
entire family of man ! And the assurance of the 
gratification of this yearning for boundless good and 
blessedness, is found in the faith thus clearly estab- 
lished. It elevates the soul of the believer to 
Zions luminous pinnacle, inaccessable to the ap- 
proach of all who are without its guidance, where 
God's holy word, and godlike reason, and godlike 
wishes, alone can meet and mingle in one harmonious 
and heavenly Truth ! Glorious Mount ! irradiated 
by celestial light ! where dwells the tabernacle of 
God ! Be thou a resting-place for my soul through 
this world's weary pilgrimage ! And ever and 
anon, as the misfortunes and sorrows of life encom- 
pass me, and the waves of trouble roar around 
to overwhelm, then let my spirit ascend to its celes- 
tial summit, and imbibe new strength to meet the 
afflictions of earth, by gazing from its lofty height 
far up to scenes of immortal joy and peace, prepared 
for me and for my race ! Blissful scenes ! where 
all the jarring discords of life shall be lost amid ce- 
lestial and eternal harmony — where sin shall cease, 
and sorrow and evil shall die to live no more 
forever ! 

Yes, dear reader; if God is to be believed — if 



218 



CONCLUSION. 



reason is to be followed — if the holiest desires of 
the heart are to be trusted — this great blessing, un- 
purchased and unpurchasable, flowing only from the 
rich fountain of Infinite Grace, will yet descend 
upon humanity! It must be so! "Sin, sorrow, 
misery, pain, and every kind of death, must finally 
have an end, and all rational intelligences be re- 
claimed and restored to the favor and enjoyment 
of God, and permitted to praise him through all 
ages, in the noblest strains of gratitude and love. 
Oh, glorious and happy consummation, long ago 
foretold by the faithful prophets of old." * * * * * 
" Then shall arrive the grand and final consumma- 
tion, when every will shall be subdued to the Will 
of God. Then shall the wisdom, the might, and 
the goodness of our God become the wisdom, might 
and goodness of all his intelligent creatures. The 
happiness of each shall multiply and overflow in the 
wishes and participation of the happiness of all. The 
universe shall begin to sound with the songs of con- 
gratulation, and all voices shall break forth in an 
eternal hallelujah of praise transcending praise, and 
glory transcending glory, to God and the Lamb ! 
There shall be no lapse thenceforward, no falling 
away forever ! But God in Christ, and Christ in a 
redeemed world, shall be a will, and a wisdom, and 
an action, and a mightiness, and a goodness, and 
a graciousness, and a glory rising on glory, and 
a blessing rising on blessedness, through an ever- 
beginning to a never-ending eternity!" Amen! 
Amen ! ! 

FINIS. 



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